Monday, February 8, 2021

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Monday, February 8, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKHISTORYMONTH

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES

Keep Schools Open All Summer, And Other Bold Ideas To Help Kids Catch Up https://www.scpr.org/news/2021/02/08/96514/keep-schools-open-all-summer-and-other-bold-ideas/ via @kpcc

Read to Succeed bill would fail reading again in South Carolina https://www.thestate.com/opinion/op-ed/article248928394.html

In a reversal, Philadelphia teachers are no longer expected to report to schools Monday - Chalkbeat Philadelphia - https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2021/2/7/22271813/in-a-reversal-philadelphia-teachers-are-no-longer-expected-to-report-to-schools-monday on chalkbeat

Democrats Plan to Go After Child Poverty With $3,000 Payment Per Child Under COVID Relief Package https://www.theroot.com/democrats-plan-to-go-after-child-poverty-with-3-000-pa-1846220342

Pandemic takes mental health toll on US youngsters http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/eSgUAjimXEc/

Op-Ed: Crafting smarter, more equitable gifted-and-talented program for NJ students https://www.njspotlight.com/2021/02/op-ed-crafting-smarter-more-equitable-gifted-and-talented-program-nj-students/

No Fs allowed: Some Newark high school teachers feel pressure to pass absent students during pandemic https://www.njspotlight.com/2021/02/no-fs-allowed-central-high-school-newark-new-jersey-dr-sharnee-brown-directive-controversy-concern-hurting-kids-long-run/

NYC middle schools will restart in-person classes Feb. 25 https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-middle-school-in-person-classes-20210208-4vb5hqv7ffgghdprwcbypxezyu-story.html#ed=rss_www.nydailynews.com/arcio/rss/category/new-york/education/

Chicago Teachers Tentatively Agree to Return to Classrooms https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/us/chicago-teachers-tentatively-agree-to-return-to-classrooms.html

Stable housing is a predictor for health, wealth and education https://thelensnola.org/2021/02/08/stable-housing-is-a-predictor-for-health-wealth-and-education/

North Carolina: Privatizers Raid Public Funds for Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tt6 via @dianeravitch

Should Schools Reopen If Teachers Aren't Yet Vaccinated? CDC Will Soon Weigh In https://www.gpb.org/news/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/02/07/should-schools-reopen-if-teachers-arent-yet-vaccinated-cdc

Philly teachers defy demands to return to buildings, plan Monday protests https://whyy.org/articles/philly-teachers-defy-demands-to-return-to-buildings-plan-monday-protests/

Philadelphia teachers will protest return to classrooms - https://www.inquirer.com/education/philadelphia-school-district-reopen-pft-union-jordan-20210207.html via @PhillyInquirer

OPINION: Social and emotional learning count more than ever https://hechingerreport.org/teacher-voice-in-dark-pandemic-days-we-are-teachers-watchdogs-technology-experts-and-therapists/

D.C. completes a week of in-person classes: Low attendance, frustrated teachers, confident principals and happy students https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-schools-reopen-first-week/2021/02/07/c9983584-67e4-11eb-886d-5264d4ceb46d_story.html?tid=ss_tw

As part of the deal, Chicago agreed to vaccinate 1,500 teachers and staff weekly at vaccination sites dedicated to the city's public schools. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chicago-public-schools-deal-to-reopen_n_6021414dc5b6c56a89a2edd2?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004 via @HuffPostPol

Laura Chapman: On EdTrust’s “Demand” to Test Students This Spring | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-trp via @dianeravitch

Education podcast: Learning is a lifelong endeavor - https://nondoc.com/?p=21052 by @https://twitter.com/thricesavage on @nondocmedia

Philadelphia Educators To Defy District https://popularresistance.org/philadelphia-educators-to-defy-district/

U.S. Catholic Schools Hit By Unprecedented Enrollment Drop https://www.huffpost.com/entry/catholic-schools-enrollment-coronavirus_n_60217a6bc5b6f38d06e605d3

Join Me Wednesday to Learn the Inside Story of the New Orleans “Coup D’Etat | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tt8 via @dianeravitch

'I sob at night': San Francisco families, beyond frustrated at school reopenings, take to streets - https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/I-sob-at-night-San-Francisco-families-15930979.php on @sfchronicle

CTU reviewing potential agreement with CPS that could avert lockouts, strike - Chicago Sun-Times - https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2021/2/7/22271189/cps-ctu-teachers-union-public-schools-strike-reopening-vaccines-agreement-lori-lightfoot#new_tab

No Fs allowed: Newark H.S. urges teachers to pass everyone during COVID https://newark.chalkbeat.org/2021/2/4/22267330/newark-failing-grades-pandemic via @ChalkbeatNWK

Biden administration to survey schools on COVID-19 impact - https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-education-coronavirus-pandemic-54dc2d790c5d8f7a62fcf4d5c68e76da#new_tab on @ap

Some Utah schools lost 40% of their in-person days this fall to COVID-19 closures - https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2021/02/05/some-utah-schools-lost/#new_tab by https://www.facebook.com/saltlaketribune on @sltrib

S.F. school district, unions reach tentative deal to reopen classrooms - https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-school-district-and-unions-reach-a-15931626.php#new_tab on @sfchronicle

Pandemic math: Texas school budgets left in limbo by enrollment, state funding questions - https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/article/Pandemic-math-Texas-school-budgets-left-in-limbo-15928129.php on @houstonchron

CDC could lay out school reopening requirements this week, Biden says | TheHill - https://thehill.com/node/537750

LAUSD superintendent calls potential lawsuit forcing schools to reopen a ‘political stunt’ | KTLA - https://ktla.com/?p=1437939

In some Boston schools, in-person education will resemble remote learning - The Boston Globe - https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/07/metro/some-boston-schools-in-person-education-will-resemble-remote-learning/#new_tab on @BostonGlobe

Utah school will no longer allow parents to opt students out of Black History Month curriculum | TheHill - https://thehill.com/node/537677

Schools plan for potential of remote learning into the fall - https://apnews.com/article/schools-plan-remote-learning-fall-0db9806f1db5253846b3946f28af6a6f#new_tab on @ap

CACFP Meal Patterns Training Slides and Resources - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/newcacfpmptslideres.asp

Additional Guidance for 75 cent Rate Increase - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/addguid75centrateinc.asp

Big Education Ape: Karen Lewis, Chicago Union Leader Who Set Off A Wave Of Teacher Activism, Dies | WBEZ Chicago - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/karen-lewis-chicago-union-leader-who.html

Big Education Ape: What Will YOU Do in 2021 to Make This a Better Country? | Teacher in a strange land - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/what-will-you-do-in-2021-to-make-this.html

Big Education Ape: Shanker Blog: Re-Imagining School Discipline: A Plea To Education Leaders | National Education Policy Center - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/shanker-blog-re-imagining-school.html

Big Education Ape: Teacher Tom: Always Raising One Another - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/teacher-tom-always-raising-one-another.html

Big Education Ape: Republicans hope to distract from their party's extremists by 'Q'ing teachers - Alternet org - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/republicans-hope-to-distract-from-their.html

Big Education Ape: NANNIE HELEN BURROUGHS + MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE, Black Educator Hall of Fame Member - Philly's 7th Ward - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/02/nannie-helen-burroughs-mary-mcleod.html

Dana Goldstein: Randi Weingarten Says She Can Get Teachers Back in Schools - The New York Times

by Mike Simpson / 1h

Randi Weingarten Says She Can Get Teachers Back in Schools - The New York Times The Union Leader Who Says She Can Get Teachers Back in Schools In cities and suburbs where schools remain closed, teachers unions are often saying: not yet. Can Randi Weingarten change that? Randi Weingarten, the nation’s most powerful teachers union president, has a message: She wants to get students back in the nati

Karen Lewis, Historic Leader of Chicago Teachers Union, Has Died | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 1h

Karen Lewis, Historic Leader of Chicago Teachers Union, Has Died It is with immense sadness that I share with you the news that the brilliant, charismatic Karen Lewis has died. As leader of the Chicago Teachers Union, she led the union to strike for “the schools our children deserve.” She understood that the union had to organize families and communities, not just their own members. She fearless

Is America's Educational System Becoming More Pluralistic? - The Atlantic

by Mike Simpson / 1h

Is America’s Educational System Becoming More Pluralistic? The past year has produced a cross-class coalition for educational choice that reaches deep into the suburbs . President Joe Biden has made it clear that he wants to “reopen school doors as quickly as possible,” and that he’s willing to spend generously to make this happen. But he’s not going to get his wish. Even if Congress passes the

Russ on Reading: Read Aloud Winners: The Trickster Tales of Gerald McDermott

by Mike Simpson / 1h

Read Aloud Winners: The Trickster Tales of Gerald McDermott Everyday is a good day for a read aloud, of course, but some books make better read alouds than others. Among my favorites are the trickster tales as winningly told and exquisitely illustrated by Gerald McDermott. McDermott was not only a world class artist, his illustrations just literally jump off the page at you, but also an expert i

Crazy George Will and “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading.” – Fred Klonsky

by Mike Simpson / 1h

CRAZY GEORGE WILL AND “CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING AND LEADING.” George Will, the conservative writer frets that Illinois, which he calls “the worst-governed state,” is losing population. He has figured out why. The chief problem in Illinois, according to George, is progressive education and a proposal calling for reflective and culturally responsive teaching. I only wish it were so. Forget a

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

by Mike Simpson / 1h

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/2021/02/this-week-i

Biden Administration Adds “Reformers” to Key Roles in Department of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 3h

Biden Administration Adds “Reformers” to Key Roles in Department of Education Here we go again. Before either Secretary-designate Miguel Cardona or Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten have been confirmed by the Senate, key jobs in the Department of Education are being filled by staff from the Gates Foundation and DFER, both of which are champions of bad ideas and antagonists of public schools. From my

Lots of New Voucher Proposals Popping Up in State Legislatures: Did Betsy DeVos Leave a Legacy? | janresseger

by Mike Simpson / 3h

Lots of New Voucher Proposals Popping Up in State Legislatures: Did Betsy DeVos Leave a Legacy? Despite that Trump’s privatizer-in-chief, Betsy DeVos has left Washington, D.C. and that President Biden has focused on supporting neighborhood public schools and finally getting them open full time after months of COVID-19 disruption, there is growing concern about the number of bills currently in st

Story time: Julian Reads for Kids in English and Spanish | Cloaking Inequity

by Mike Simpson / 3h

STORY TIME: JULIAN READS FOR KIDS IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH In this virtual schooling world due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was an honor to be asked to read a book for the Fayette County Public Schools “Virtual Mentors Read Program.” I read Carlos and the Squash Plant by Jan Romero Stevens, a book for elementary students, in English and Spanish. I also read The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33r

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Saturday, February 6, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKHISTORYMONTH

by Mike Simpson / 17h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Education Research Report: Teaching pupils empathy measurably improves their creative abilities - http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/ Report: California Wastes $600 Million Per Year On Cyberschools - https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2021/02/06/report-california-wastes-600-million-per-year-on-cyberschools/ North Ogden Mo

CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Hooray for the Sports Ball Edition (2/7)

by Mike Simpson / 23h

CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Hooray for the Sports Ball Edition (2/7) Hooray for the Sports Ball Edition My understanding is that there will be some sort of contest today in which millionaires will chase a bag of air up and down a

Big Education Ape

Karen Lewis, Chicago Union Leader Who Set Off A Wave Of Teacher Activism, Dies | WBEZ Chicago

Karen Lewis, Chicago Union Leader Who Set Off A Wave Of Teacher Activism, Dies

Karen Lewis, the woman credited with resurrecting the Chicago Teachers Union and helping to revive teacher unions across the country, has died.

“Karen did not just lead our movement. Karen was our movement,” the union said in a statement. “She bowed to no one, and gave strength to tens of thousands of Chicago Teachers Union educators who followed her lead, and who live by her principles to this day.”

Lewis rose to prominence in 2012, when she led the first teachers strike in Chicago in 25 years — a walkout many say inspired a wave of teacher activism and the beginning of the Red for Ed, the national movement in which teachers went on strike to demand better pay and working conditions.

The 2012 Chicago Teachers Strike showed teachers they could take on the powerful and win.

Lewis served as president of the CTU from 2010 to 2018, when she resigned due to health issues. She was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2014. She was 67 years old. Her death was confirmed by the union.

Lewis was born on July 26, 1953. A proud daughter of Chicago Public School teachers, she went to Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park on the South Side. She left her junior year to go to Mount Holyoke College and then transferred to Dartmouth College. She said she was the only African American woman in Dartmouth’s graduating class of 1974.

Before becoming president of the teachers union, she was a chemistry teacher in Chicago Public Schools for more than 20 years.

Lewis is remembered as being passionate and outspoken, but also highly intelligent, wildly funny and warm, and someone who always recalled details about people’s lives and asked about them.

“She had a boisterous love of life and she made people feel seen,” said Jackson Potter, a friend and one of the founders of Lewis’ union caucus, called CORE. “Though she was childless, she felt like all the babies in the world were her children.” CONTINUE READING: Karen Lewis, Chicago Union Leader Who Set Off A Wave Of Teacher Activism, Dies | WBEZ Chicago

What Will YOU Do in 2021 to Make This a Better Country? | Teacher in a strange land

What Will YOU Do in 2021 to Make This a Better Country?

First—I didn’t think this question up. It was a meme, posted by my friend Betsy Coffia, Commissioner in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, who said this:

What will it look like to truly love and fight for your country, this year?

What bubbled up first for me was ‘Ask not what your country can do for you…’ but Betsy’s thousands of followers didn’t need any further prompting. Grand Traverse County recently made national news when a woman (whom I also know, from a postcard-writing campaign) asked her elected officials to denounce the Proud Boys and one flashed a rifle instead. After five and a half hours of mainly appalled public comment responding to this event, the Commission, by a 3-3 vote (with the gunslinger recusing himself), voted not to censure him.

Evidently, three of them they think he’s ‘learned his lesson.’

Stuff like this is happening all over the country—outbreaks of overt racism and well-meant attempts to declare anti-racist sentiments starting World War III in civic meetings. Charter school administrators in Utah agreeing that parents can opt out of Black History Month lessons. The whole MTG (Q-GA) debacle.

It is, in fact, the perfect time to ask: What will it look like to love your country, and fight CONTINUE READING: What Will YOU Do in 2021 to Make This a Better Country? | Teacher in a strange land

Shanker Blog: Re-Imagining School Discipline: A Plea To Education Leaders | National Education Policy Center

Shanker Blog: Re-Imagining School Discipline: A Plea To Education Leaders

In many large urban school districts, there are more security employees than counselors. In the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) system, for example there is one security guard for every 147 students, while the counselor-to-student ratio is 1:217. In addition, based on 2015-16 data, Groeger et al. (2018) found that Black students in DCPS were 15 times more likely to be suspended than their white peers (nationally, Black students were four times more likely to be suspended). In short, many students are not getting the emotional and mental support they need as they go through our schools. Instead, as exemplified by these staffing ratios, too many students are affected by punitive, militaristic methods of discipline, which may not only have negative consequences for the students who are disciplined, but for their peers as well (Perry and Morris 2014).

A commonly used discipline approach, which used to be known as “zero tolerance,” was to discipline all students who didn’t follow the expected “rules.” Zero tolerance policies proliferated in public schools as a reform to help manage student behavior, using a “quick fix” method. Weaver and Swank (2020) define zero tolerance as “policies…[that] include exclusionary practices (i.e., office referral, suspension, expulsion) that involve the removal of the offender from the context of the incident and isolating the student from others involved and their school community.”

Unfortunately, as Skiba et al. (2011) show, these policies have created negative experiences for students and have disproportionately affected Black and brown students. Because they are CONTINUE READING: Shanker Blog: Re-Imagining School Discipline: A Plea To Education Leaders | National Education Policy Center

Teacher Tom: Always Raising One Another

Always Raising One Another

The other day I was walking along the sidewalk, just me and my own thoughts. As I came to the crosswalk, a woman approached at an angle that meant our paths would cross. I slowed my walk slightly and she responded by speeding up a bit so that we wouldn't collide. My actions guided her's and her actions guided mine, and so we passed one another without incident and went on our way.

We are among the species who raise their children. It's mostly a mammal thing, although birds do it as well. Most other animals, like sea turtles, lay their eggs and that's where their responsibilities end. We are at the other end of the parenting spectrum, with our babies remaining dependent upon us for years. Raising our young is so important to our survival that we've evolved females with lifespans that tend to extend for decades beyond menopause (who we call grandparents), a rarity in the animal kingdom, at least in part for the purpose of having extra adults on hand for the project of raising children.

It's hard to argue that caring for children doesn't stand among the most important projects of every human CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Always Raising One Another

Republicans hope to distract from their party's extremists by 'Q'ing teachers - Alternet org

Republicans hope to distract from their party's extremists by scapegoating teachers - Alternet.org

Republicans hope to distract from their party's extremists by 'Q'ing teachers

Republicans think they have their new plan to divide and conquer and distract the nation from extremists within their own party and the attack on the U.S. Capitol. They're going to attack teachers for not wanting to go into unsafe working conditions in a pandemic.

Well, they say they're attacking teachers unions, but make no mistake: Republicans are attacking teachers. Because the thing is, unions are made up of workers, and teachers are the workers in teachers unions (most of them, anyway), and in the cities where there have been contentious debates over in-person schooling, it is absolutely the teachers, not some abstract bureaucracy, fighting to stay out of poorly ventilated, crowded classrooms.

"Science is not the obstacle. Federal money is not the obstacle. The obstacle is a lack of willpower," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday. "Not among students. Not among parents. Just among the rich, powerful unions that donate huge sums to Democrats and get a stranglehold over education in many communities."

What, we're to believe that the "rich, powerful unions" just decided to pick this specific fight for no good reason? Like, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, got together and decided that the best way to build power was to use a ton of political capital blocking in-person education? Oh, please. This is definitely a case where the teachers have pressured their leaders, and the reason for that is that teachers are scared.

What's more, teachers are scared because people keep telling them that going into the classroom is safe if a long list of precautions are observed, and they know that in many of their school systems, there is no chance of that. They have stories of being in crowded classrooms where the windows don't open to circulate fresh air in, and they're not allowed to prop doors open because that could put them in danger in case of a school shooting. They have stories of schools where the way students are kept from being within six feet of each other for 15 minutes is that every 12-14 minutes they're told to get up and walk around. They have photos showing creative interpretations of how far six feet really is. CONTINUE READING: Republicans hope to distract from their party's extremists by scapegoating teachers - Alternet.org

NANNIE HELEN BURROUGHS + MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE, Black Educator Hall of Fame Member - Philly's 7th Ward

Nannie Helen Burroughs, Black Educator Hall of Fame Member - Philly's 7th Ward

NANNIE HELEN BURROUGHS, BLACK EDUCATOR HALL OF FAME MEMBER

E’ry day this month, the Center for Black Educator Development, in partnership with Phillys7thWard.org, will highlight a Black Educator Hall of Famer.

But, don’t forget, e’ry month is Black History Month…February is just the Blackest.

Today, our featured Black Educator is Nannie Helen Burroughs.

Nannie Helen Burroughs, an educator and eduactivist; she was indeed a triple threat.

Burroughs was born May 2, 1879 in Virginia. Her mother, seeking better educational opportunities for her Black children moved to the nation’s capital. While the educational system was better, as Black people continue to experience today, the racism was the same. But, as many Black children continue to experience, their dedicated Black teachers helped them to learn content and context and equipped them with the tools, shields, and armor to navigate and undermine America’s racist and misogynistic systems. One of Nannie’s teachers was the legendary Mary Church Terrell. One of the administrators of the M Street School, a historic institution, was Anna J. Cooper.

After attending school in Washington D.C., she landed in Louisville, Kentucky with the National Baptist Convention (NBC), serving as a bookkeeper and CONTINUE READING: Nannie Helen Burroughs, Black Educator Hall of Fame Member - Philly's 7th Ward

MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE, BLACK EDUCATOR HALL OF FAME MEMBER

Today, our featured Black Educator is Mary McLeod Bethune.

Mary McLeod Bethune was one of the most influential eduactivist of the 20th century. She was an influential leader and stalwart for the civil rights of Black people, women, and the education of Black children. Educational justice planning for it and implementation of it, was her north star.

Born in South Carolina in 1875, Mary showed early leadership in organizing her siblings (she was one of seventeen) and would walk five miles to school. Her family, unable to send everyone to school, chose Mary to be their educational representative.

Bethune initially planned on being a Christian missionary. She graduated from Scotia Seminary and attended Dwight Moody’s Home for Foreign Missions. However, no one would sponsor a missionary trip for her. So, CONTINUE READING: MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE, BLACK EDUCATOR HALL OF FAME MEMBER

Dana Goldstein: Randi Weingarten Says She Can Get Teachers Back in Schools - The New York Times

Randi Weingarten Says She Can Get Teachers Back in Schools - The New York Times

The Union Leader Who Says She Can Get Teachers Back in Schools

In cities and suburbs where schools remain closed, teachers unions are often saying: not yet. Can Randi Weingarten change that?

Randi Weingarten, the nation’s most powerful teachers union president, has a message: She wants to get students back in the nation’s classrooms.

She spends 15 hours per day on the phone, she says — with local labor leaders, mayors, the White House, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — trying to figure out how to reopen the three-quarters of school systems that remain fully or partially shuttered.

But with the pandemic approaching its first anniversary, and a new president — a union ally — vowing to reopen elementary and middle schools within his first 100 days, she faces a difficult truth: In the liberal cities and suburbs where schools are most likely to remain closed, teachers unions are the most powerful forces saying no, not yet.

Not before teacher vaccinations, they say, or upgraded school ventilation systems, or accommodations for educators with vulnerable relatives.

The Chicago union had ground reopening to a halt before reaching a tentative deal Sunday with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, averting a strike and agreeing to return K-8 students to classrooms by early March. The Philadelphia local is threatening to refuse to enter school buildings this week.

And California unions have left that state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, so frustrated that in a recent meeting he lashed out, saying, “If everybody has to be vaccinated, we might as well just tell people the truth: There will be no in-person instruction in the state of California.” CONTINUE READING: Randi Weingarten Says She Can Get Teachers Back in Schools - The New York Times

Karen Lewis, Historic Leader of Chicago Teachers Union, Has Died | Diane Ravitch's blog

Karen Lewis, Historic Leader of Chicago Teachers Union, Has Died

It is with immense sadness that I share with you the news that the brilliant, charismatic Karen Lewis has died. As leader of the Chicago Teachers Union, she led the union to strike for “the schools our children deserve.” She understood that the union had to organize families and communities, not just their own members. She fearlessly confronted the powerful. She was considering a run against Rahm Emanuel for mayor when she learned she had an aggressive brain tumor.

Karen and her devoted husband John were dear personal friends. I saw them when I was in Chicago a year ago. She was in a nursing home. It was terribly sad.

All of us who care about children and their schools will miss her dynamic leadership.

Every time teachers strike for better education for children, they should remember this tireless, inspiring woman, our friend, Karen Lewis.

Karen Lewis, Historic Leader of Chicago Teachers Union, Has Died | Diane Ravitch's blog

Is America's Educational System Becoming More Pluralistic? - The Atlantic

Is America’s Educational System Becoming More Pluralistic?

The past year has produced a cross-class coalition for educational choice that reaches deep into the suburbs.

President Joe Biden has made it clear that he wants to “reopen school doors as quickly as possible,” and that he’s willing to spend generously to make this happen. But he’s not going to get his wish. Even if Congress passes the president’s pandemic-relief plan, which includes $130 billion for the reopening of K–12 schools, in addition to the $67.2 billion Congress has already authorized under the CARES Act and the pandemic-relief legislation that passed in December, some teachers’ unions are setting out conditions for reopening that will be exceedingly difficult to meet, and threatening further “safety strikes” if they don’t get their way. In some districts where the teachers’ unions are especially powerful, the return of in-person learning might not happen until well into the 2021–22 school year. And the longer the COVID-19 disruption lasts, the more likely it is to have a deep and lasting impact on the politics of public education.

The heavy toll of school closures—on parents who are finding themselves under intense economic and emotional strain, on students who are experiencing profound learning loss that threatens to compound over time—might have been expected to put teachers’ unions at a political disadvantage. That’s certainly the impression you’d get from recent reports of fierce battles over school reopenings in cities and towns across the country. Judging by recent surveys, however, parental opinion of teachers’ unions has barely budged since the start of the pandemic.

Why has the political response to school closures been so muted? For one, at least 28 percent of students are receiving instruction that is fully in-person, and many reside in Republican-leaning districts. As the political scientists Michael T. Hartney and Leslie K. Fingers recently observed, the best predictor for whether a school district offered in-person learning this fall was Donald Trump’s vote share in that district in 2016. In California, for example, public schools in politically competitive and right-leaning areas such as Fresno, San Diego, and Orange Counties are mostly in-person while schools in San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles remain entirely remote. Reopening battles between unionized teachers and parents desperate for in-person learning are mostly taking place in Democratic cities and suburbs.

Moreover, blue-state parents are divided on the question of reopening schools. Though learning loss has been CONTINUE READING: Is America's Educational System Becoming More Pluralistic? - The Atlantic

Russ on Reading: Read Aloud Winners: The Trickster Tales of Gerald McDermott

Read Aloud Winners: The Trickster Tales of Gerald McDermott

Everyday is a good day for a read aloud, of course, but some books make better read alouds than others. Among my favorites are the trickster tales as winningly told and exquisitely illustrated by Gerald McDermott. McDermott was not only a world class artist, his illustrations just literally jump off the page at you, but also an expert in folklore. Trickster tales come to us from many different cultures and McDermott mined these rich resources for these entertaining stories.

Perhaps the most familiar of McDermott's books, this Caldecott Honor Book established McDermott's distinctive style. Anansi is a troublemaker whose six sons try to save him from all the problems he causes. A West African Folktale.

In this tale from the American Southwest, the animals of the desert teach the troublesome Coyote a lesson.

In this tale from India, a hungry, clever Monkey must find a way to get the tasty mangoes from the island in the river with Crocodile's help, without becoming Crocodile's lunch. CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Read Aloud Winners: The Trickster Tales of Gerald McDermott

Crazy George Will and “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading.” – Fred Klonsky

CRAZY GEORGE WILL AND “CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING AND LEADING.”

George Will, the conservative writer frets that Illinois, which he calls “the worst-governed state,” is losing population. He has figured out why.

The chief problem in Illinois, according to George, is progressive education and a proposal calling for reflective and culturally responsive teaching.

I only wish it were so.

Forget about Chicago’s three decades of industrial disinvestment and police violence. Forget about a tax policy that punishes working families with a flat income tax and the imposition of high local taxes on revenue poor towns and school districts.

The list of reasons Illinois has lost population is long and we are not alone.

But Will is convinced the chief reason is CONTINUE READING: Crazy George Will and “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading.” – Fred Klonsky

Biden Administration Adds “Reformers” to Key Roles in Department of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Biden Administration Adds “Reformers” to Key Roles in Department of Education

Here we go again. Before either Secretary-designate Miguel Cardona or Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten have been confirmed by the Senate, key jobs in the Department of Education are being filled by staff from the Gates Foundation and DFER, both of which are champions of bad ideas and antagonists of public schools. From my experience in the U.S. Department of Education, it is customary to allow the Secretary and Deputy Secretary to choose their assistant secretaries, and the assistant secretaries choose their deputies. These appointments seem to have been made by the White House. Please note that the Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development shapes policy for the Department. The administration previously announced a fervent supporter of high-stakes testing—Ian Rosenblum of Education Trust in New York—as the acting Assistant Secretary for that office.

Andrew Ujifusa reports in Education Week:

The latest round of political appointees to the U.S. Department of Education include a veteran of Capitol Hill and Beltway education groups, the former leader of Democrats for Education Reform’s District of Columbia affiliate, and two former Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation staffers.

The Biden administration appointments, announced Feb. CONTINUE READING: Biden Administration Adds “Reformers” to Key Roles in Department of Education | Diane Ravitch's blog

Lots of New Voucher Proposals Popping Up in State Legislatures: Did Betsy DeVos Leave a Legacy? | janresseger

Lots of New Voucher Proposals Popping Up in State Legislatures: Did Betsy DeVos Leave a Legacy?

Despite that Trump’s privatizer-in-chief, Betsy DeVos has left Washington, D.C. and that President Biden has focused on supporting neighborhood public schools and finally getting them open full time after months of COVID-19 disruption, there is growing concern about the number of bills currently in state legislatures to expand vouchers of all kinds—plain old private school tuition vouchers, tuition tax credit vouchers, and education savings accounts.

The Washington Post‘s Valerie Strauss reports that the Network for Public Education has tracked bills for new voucher programs or expansions of vouchers in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and New Hampshire. Strauss reminds us that Betsy DeVos’s skewed understanding of the meaning of public education has not disappeared from the fifty statehouses: “DeVos and her allies, especially Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), publicly called for a definition that essentially said: If public dollars are used for any kind of schooling that makes it public education—even if the public has no say in how a school operates.” She quotes DeSantis: “Look, if it’s public dollars, it’s public education.”

Why have so many voucher bills been introduced in state legislatures right now? The Huffington Post‘s senior education reporter Rebecca Klein explains: “In the few weeks of 2021, state legislators have introduced a wave of new bills designed to expand or create new voucher, tax credit and education savings programs. While these programs are often controversial—eliciting staunch opposition from public school groups and teachers unions—advocates say they have seen new momentum after a wave of Republican wins in statehouses and a pandemic that has forced millions of schoolchildren to learn from home. So far, new legislation related to private school choice has been introduced in over 15 states during 2021.”

After exploring the details of some of the state legislative proposals to expand school CONTINUE READING: Lots of New Voucher Proposals Popping Up in State Legislatures: Did Betsy DeVos Leave a Legacy? | janresseger

Story time: Julian Reads for Kids in English and Spanish | Cloaking Inequity

STORY TIME: JULIAN READS FOR KIDS IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH

In this virtual schooling world due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was an honor to be asked to read a book for the Fayette County Public Schools “Virtual Mentors Read Program.” I read Carlos and the Squash Plant by Jan Romero Stevens, a book for elementary students, in English and Spanish. I also read The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street by Sharon G. Flake, a book for middle school students. Enjoy!

Enjoy!

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Monday, February 8, 2021