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Saturday, September 7, 2019

TOP POST THIS WEEK 9/7/19 #REDFORED

Big Education Ape


TOP POST THIS WEEK 9/7/19 

Big Education Ape: BACK TO SCHOOL: A parent’s guide to K-12 school success - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/08/back-to-school-parents-guide-to-k-12.html






TOP POST THIS MONTH 9/7/19







POST THIS WEEK 9/7/19

TODAY

John Thompson: The Corporate Makeover of Tulsa University | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 59min
John Thompson: The Corporate Makeover of Tulsa University John Thompson, historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma, writes here about the philanthrocaptalist makeover of Tulsa University. A tale of our times. Surely we can agree with The Tulsa World’s Randy Krehbiel, who says that the faculty and administration “disagree bitterly … about whether that transformation will be good or bad for the un
The Need for School Psychologists at this Critical Time

by Mike Simpson / 1h
The Need for School Psychologists at this Critical Time Public schools provide support staff that help teachers consider the whole child. This includes the role of the school psychologist. These professionals are the experts that make a school and school system complete. They provide children and teens the mental health support they need. Since the corporate school reform march to privatize publ
White Teachers, Here’s How You Can Successfully Partner With Black Families - Philly's 7th Ward

by Mike Simpson / 1h
WHITE TEACHERS, HERE’S HOW YOU CAN SUCCESSFULLY PARTNER WITH BLACK FAMILIES The show was going really well. We were in Pittsburgh, taping a live 8 Black Hands podcast episode at the State of Black Learning Conference , and we were just wrapping up the Q&A. Then, a White woman stood up and explained that she worked really hard and was often blamed for the shortcomings of her students and families
No time for passive parenting: Show your kids how to stand up to bullies | Salon.com

by Mike Simpson / 1h
No time for passive parenting: Show your kids how to stand up to bullies I work with kids across the social spectrum, and I know the harms of being passive. Here's what parents can do I t’s September and the digital grapevine is abuzz trying to figure out who’s in which classroom this year. Parents all over the country have Google docs and white boards mapping class lists to try to figure out wh
Playing Class Clown Could Cost Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin His Job – Mother Jones

by Mike Simpson / 1h
Playing Class Clown Could Cost Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin His Job Educators are organizing to teach the state’s Trump-loving governor a civics lesson in November. Gov. Matt Bevin was praising Kentuckians as “the most hospitable people on the earth,” but you could barely make out his remarks over the chorus of boos . He was speaking in May at the Kentucky Derby’s trophy presentation, and observers
Evidence points to charter schools having lower performance

by Mike Simpson / 2h
Evidence points to charter schools having lower performance A new study released by EdSource last week points to a new threat to teacher salaries, graduation rates, and student outcomes: charter schools. With unchecked expansion, charter schools have spring up in every corner of San Diego, promising a “unique” learning experience while aggressively marketing to steal state funds from public scho
Matt Bevin's actions show his disdain for public education, democracy

by Mike Simpson / 2h
Matt Bevin's dismantling of education committees shows his disdain for democracy Recently, Gov. Matt Bevin issued an executive order that disbanded and reconstituted seven education committees. I have served for several years on one of those, the Committee for Mathematics Achievement. The committee was what its name would indicate: a group ofshareholders working to advise policymakers and develo
Betsy DeVos: The Musical! | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 2h
Betsy DeVos: The Musical! Quinn Strassel, a drama teacher at Ann Arbor Community High School has written a music about Betsy DeVos, the arch-for of America’s public schools. The Michigan media took note. Strassel recruited Diane Hill, his former Ypsilanti High School drama teacher, to take on the role of Betsy DeVos, while he played husband Dick DeVos and brother Erik Prince. The cast also inclu
Are Charter Schools Public Schools? | Dissident Voice

by Mike Simpson / 2h
Are Charter Schools Public Schools? Charter school advocates have always desperately sought to convince themselves and the public that privately-run nonprofit and for-profit charter schools that operate like businesses are actually public and similar in many ways to public schools. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Charter schools are not public schools. In reality, privately-operated non
Bill Gates REFUSES to reveal why he flew on Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein after prison release | Daily Mail Online

by Mike Simpson / 3h
Bill Gates REFUSES to reveal why he flew on Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein four years AFTER his release from prison while the billionaire was still chairman of Microsoft Bill Gates and his spokespeople refuse to explain why he flew from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach on March 1, 2013 with Jeffrey Epstein Epstein told people in the past that he was a financial adviser to Gates
Seating Charts and the Grammar of Schooling | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by Mike Simpson / 3h
Seating Charts and the Grammar of Schooling In EdSurge , Kevin Behan, a product manager at GoGuardian (a for-profit software company creating programs for classroom management and other educational tasks) wrote an opinion piece (August 17, 2019) about the importance of seating charts. He (or EdSurge) titled the op-ed: “Create a Culture, Not a Classtoom: Why Seating Charts Matter.” After all it i
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Sad News (and Please Talk to Your Children)

by Mike Simpson / 3h
Sad News (and Please Talk to Your Children) I have learned that an Ingraham student died before school started from an accidental overdose Apparently the student thought he had bought one drug but it also may have been laced with fentanyl. Principal Floe is sending out a letter to the school community. As well, there have been a spate of young people with breathing problems from the use of stree
Expanding Student Opportunities, Improving Adult Background Checks – Education Town Hall Forum

by Mike Simpson / 3h
EXPANDING STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES, IMPROVING ADULT BACKGROUND CHECKS Our Education Town Hall show for Thursday September 12 will consist of two parts, both of which will feature activists in DC education: Danica Petroshius, of Ward 6 Public School Parent Organization, and Maurice Cook, of Serve Your City DC. Listen at 11 a.m. EASTERN on Thursday, September 12, via TuneIn or by visiting We Act Radi
THIS WEEK Education Research Report

by Mike Simpson / 4h
Education Research Report THIS WEEK Education Research Report Analyzing Youth Civic Writing Within the 2016 Letters to the Next President Project by Jonathan Kantrowitz / 19h This article investigates the civic writing practices of more than 11,000 students writing letters to the next president in the lead up to the 2016 U.S. election. The authors analyze how letter topics are associated with soc
This Week With Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

by Mike Simpson / 4h
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 This Week With Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 Trump Administration Considering New Refugee Policy: Don’t Take In Anyone by Larry Ferlazzo / 1h The number of refugees in the world is at its highest in history . In the face of this crisis, th
KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all

by Mike Simpson / 4h
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all “Think Progress,” The News Site of the Center for American Progress, Is Folding by dianeravitch / 27min The Center for American Progress has been the think tank of centrist Democrats and a refuge for veterans of the Obama administration and the w

YESTERDAY

THE EMAIL DUMP OF KEITH YANOV — Formerly General Counsel For Green Dot Charter Schools - Michael Kohlhaas dot org

by Mike Simpson / 22h
Keith Yanov — Formerly General Counsel For Green Dot Charter Schools — Has “Transitioned To Private Practice” Michael Kohlhaas dot org THE EMAIL DUMP OF KEITH YANOV KEITH YANOV — FORMERLY GENERAL COUNSEL FOR GREEN DOT CHARTER SCHOOLS — HAS “TRANSITIONED TO PRIVATE PRACTICE” — WHICH MEANS HE QUIT OR WAS FIRED — AND GIVEN THAT IT WAS ALMOST CERTAINLY HIS DECISION TO FOLLOW THE LAW AND RELEASE THAT
We Need To Stop Talking About The Teacher Shortage

by Mike Simpson / 22h
We Need To Stop Talking About The Teacher Shortage News of a teacher shortage across the nation has been pummeling us for years now , right up through a story yesterday in the Panama City News Herald about an “extreme” teacher shortage. Fewer students in teacher prep programs. Thousands of unfilled teacher vacancies in state after state. But we need to stop calling it a teacher shortage. You can
The Mixed Realty Commute: Education for the Telepresence Gig Economy – Wrench in the Gears

by Mike Simpson / 23h
The Mixed Realty Commute: Education for the Telepresence Gig Economy First there were remote-operation robots for nuclear waste clean up, then remote-operation drone warfare. Now we’ve moved on to the rather more mundane task of remote-operation fast food delivery. I was motivated to finally sit down and start to write the back-story to defense department simulations and workforce-aligned projec
Los Angeles: Astroturf “Parent” Group Pressures Beutner to Rate Schools by Their Test Scores | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 23h
Los Angeles: Astroturf “Parent” Group Pressures Beutner to Rate Schools by Their Test Scores With so much billionaire cash sloshing around California to promote charter schools and to disparage public schools, it can be difficult to know which groups are real and which are Memorex. Here is one that definitely is not a real parents’ group. It is called Speak Up and it is populated with people who
How big a mess is Pennsylvania’s charter school sector? This big. - Network For Public Education

by Mike Simpson / 1d
How big a mess is Pennsylvania’s charter school sector? This big. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf horrified the charter school lobby with eight words — “the privatization of education in our public schools.” He used that phrase during a July news conference in which he was bemoaning the state of cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania. Ana Meyers, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Pub
Parents Sue Minnesota School District Saying It Did Nothing to Protect Their Kids From Rampant Racism

by Mike Simpson / 1d
Parents Sue Minnesota School District Saying It Did Nothing to Protect Their Kids From Rampant Racism A group of parents have hit their almost lily-white school district with a civil rights lawsuit, charging it turned a blind eye to rampant instances of egregious racist abuse and bullying of their children. According to the Daily Beast, the abusive behavior alleged includes: a 6-year-old black c
A Very Busy Day Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

by Mike Simpson / 1d
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 “Q&A Collections: The Inclusive Classroom” by Larry Ferlazzo / 6h Q&A Collections: The Inclusive Classroom is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. All Classroom Q&A posts of
New Orleans Will Close Failing Charter Schools In The District : NPR

by Mike Simpson / 1d
Closing A Failing School Is Normal, But Not Easy, In Charters-Only New Orleans On a clear morning in late August, 9-year-old Alongkorn Lafargue hops in the back seat of his father's car. He's wearing his school uniform: neatly ironed khakis and a bright blue polo shirt embroidered with the logo of his new charter school, IDEA Oscar Dunn. Alongkorn has been going there only a few weeks, and his d
NYC Public School Parents: Make your voices heard! Urge NYSED not to weaken the state privacy law by allowing companies to sell or market personal student data

by Mike Simpson / 1d
Make your voices heard! Urge NYSED not to weaken the state privacy law by allowing companies to sell or market personal student data The New York Board of Regents is currently considering whether to approve a radical weakening of the state student privacy law, which would allow the College Board, the ACT and other companies that contract with schools or districts to use the personal student info
Trump is Diverting Funds from U.S. School Systems to Build His Wall + Edgar Villanueva | Schott Foundation

by Mike Simpson / 1d
Trump is Diverting Funds from One of the Best U.S. School Systems to Build His Wall | Schott Foundation for Public Education Trump is Diverting Funds from One of the Best U.S. School Systems to Build His Wall Yesterday the Pentagon announced that it would cut funding to its schools and daycare centers as part of a $3.6 billion diversion of funds toward construction of President Trump’s proposed w
Pay Teachers More, Because Women Have Other Options - The Atlantic

by Mike Simpson / 1d
For Teachers, the Money Keeps Getting Worse When classroom jobs were female college graduates’ best option, U.S. schools could skimp on wages. To fill vacancies now, districts and state legislatures need to offer competitive pay. As kids and parents settle into another school year, principals and superintendents in districts across the country are still scrambling to fill vacant teaching positio
The Educator-Activist’s To-Do List - Education Votes

by Mike Simpson / 1d
The Educator-Activist’s To-Do List By Amanda Litvinov Whether you are a new or veteran educator, the start of a new school year can be overwhelming. The entire community counts on educators to set up the school, help students get situated, and solve whatever problems crop up along the way. But your community is also counting on you to keep advocating for the resources your students deserve, by t
CURMUDGUCATION: What Should Be Our Hot Topics For The New Year?

by Mike Simpson / 1d
What Should Be Our Hot Topics For The New Year? It's the beginning of a new school year, and a good moment to take stock of the major policy issues, controversies and problems that we can expect to be (or ought to be) wrestling with in the coming year. Which issues are on the rise, which have lost a little steam and which should we be addressing? Common Core For years, the Common Core Standards
ALEC Legislator Retires a “Charter School Millionaire” from ALEC’s Top-Rated School Choice State | deutsch29

by Mike Simpson / 1d
ALEC Legislator Retires a “Charter School Millionaire” from ALEC’s Top-Rated School Choice State This is a post about how school choice works (and pays off) ALEC-style. ALEC stands for the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC describes itself as follows: The American Legislative Exchange Council is America’s largest nonpartisan, voluntary membership organization of state legislators dedic
Schools Matter: Walmart Shoppers Help Fund Public School Privatization

by Mike Simpson / 1d
Walmart Shoppers Help Fund Public School Privatization From the Arkansas Education Association : Inside the web of Arkansas’s School Privatization Empire A free quality public education for every child is a foundational principle of American society and a right guaranteed by Arkansas’s Constitution. Everyone in this state, regardless of religion, race, income, disability or any other characteris
2019 Medley #17: Back to school 2019, Part 2 The Test Fails | Live Long and Prosper

by Mike Simpson / 1d
2019 Medley #17: Back to school 2019, Part 2 The Test Fails Testing and Accountability THE TEST FAILS Accountability is the big news in Indiana as school starts this year. It seems that our students didn’t do well on the new iLearn test which replaced ISTEP and was administred last Spring. Steve Hinnefeld, who blogs at Schools Matter , reported (see The stakes are the problem , below), Just unde
The college admissions process is ‘unconscionably unjust.’ Here’s one way to help change that. - The Washington Post

by Mike Simpson / 1d
The college admissions process is ‘unconscionably unjust.’ Here’s one way to help change that. Late last month, the College Board announced that it was dropping a plan it had introduced a few months earlier to provide colleges with a single numeric rating of the adversity that students who took the SAT faced in their communities. The original idea, called the Environmental Context Dashboard, was

SEP 05

A Snapshot of the Status of African Americans Among School Principals in the United States : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education

by Mike Simpson / 1d
A Snapshot of the Status of African Americans Among School Principals in the United States A new report from the U.S. Department of Education looks at the demographic characteristics of elementary and secondary school principals in the United States. Overall, during the 2017-18 school year, 78 percent of school principals were non-Hispanic White, 11 percent were non-Hispanic Black or African Ame
NYC Public School Parents: What both supporters and critics of the proposal to eliminated gifted programs are missing

by Mike Simpson / 1d
What both supporters and critics of the proposal to eliminated gifted programs are missing There's been a tremendous amount of rhetoric from both sides and from the media about the recommendations in the second report from the School Diversity Advisory Group (SDAG), focusing primarily on its proposal to eliminate gifted programs in elementary schools. See for example the hyperbolic headline of N
Deaning and the Education Profession | Cloaking Inequity

by Mike Simpson / 1d
Deaning and the Education Profession | Was honored to join News Talk 590 WVLK today. I talked with Scott about everything from diversity and inclusiveness to research and the politicization of teachers and the future of the profession. Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others. Check out and follow my YouTube channel here . Twitter: @ProfessorJVH C
Succeed or Surrender - Sacramento News & Review

by Mike Simpson / 1d
Sacramento News & Review - Succeed or surrender - News - Local Stories - September 5, 2019 Succeed or Surrender As Democratic presidential candidates debate school busing, Sac High’s graduation ceremony reveals the tricky role that charters play From the rows on the floor to the near-nose bleed seats in the balcony, Memorial Auditorium was packed for Sacramento Charter High School’s 2019 graduati
EDUCATION STARS WILL SHINE AT THE 2020 NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION CONFERENCE: Conference Keynote Speakers #NPE2020

by Mike Simpson / 1d
2020 Conference Keynote Speakers - Network For Public Education EDUCATION STARS WILL SHINE AT THE 2020 NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION CONFERENCE Conference Keynote Speakers Diane Ravitch Diane Ravitch is a co-founder of the Network for Public Education. She is a historian of education and Research Professor of Education at New York University. She has written ten books and edited another 14. She is
Push for single rating of LA schools challenges state’s multi-dimensional accountability system | EdSource

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Push for single rating of LA schools challenges state's multi-dimensional accountability system There is a deeply rooted impulse in American society — perhaps any society — to rank everything from restaurants and refrigerators to athletes and colleges. That may help explain why pressures continue in California to rank its schools based on a single score of some kind, despite a major thrust in th
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Stories of HCC: You Failed Us: Students of Color Talk Seattle Schools

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Stories of HCC Stories of HCC Crosscut has an article about a book that a 17-year-old trans person has written about their experience in HCC. The book is called, " You Failed Us ." It was two years ago that Azure Savage began writing their first book, the origins of which can be traced back to their kindergarten year at Seattle’s Thurgood Marshall Elementary. It w
Why 2020 Dems Should Target the Nonprofit Charter School Industry - LA Progressive

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Why 2020 Dems Should Target the Nonprofit Charter School Industry Charter schools, once the darling of politicians on the right and left, have become a hot potato in the Democratic Party 2020 presidential primary with nearly every candidate voicing some level of disapproval of the industry. A common refrain among the candidates is to express opposition to “for-profit charter schools.” Charter sc
Quality Counts 2019: Grading the States - Education Week

by Mike Simpson / 2d
QUALITY COUNTS 2019: GRADING THE STATES The third and final installment of “Quality Counts 2019” offers a comprehensive report card on the nation’s K-12 system, including A-F grades and rankings for each of the states based on a wide range of academic, school finance, and socioeconomic factors. The report, based on analysis by the Education Week Research Center, sums up how well the nation and t
Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness Denies Most Requests : NPR

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Congress Promised Student Borrowers A Break. Education Dept. Rejected 99% Of Them A new report from a government watchdog, first obtained obtained by NPR, says an expanded effort by Congress to forgive the student loans of public servants is remarkably unforgiving. Congress created the expansion program last year in response to a growing outcry. Thousands of borrowers — nurses, teachers and othe
Lock-Ins and Walkouts: The Students Changing City Schools From the Inside - The New York Times

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Lock-Ins and Walkouts: The Students Changing City Schools From the Inside Teenagers are helping to lead integration efforts, protesting against discrimination and demanding more inclusive curriculums. They have locked themselves inside school buildings for days on end to protest discrimination. They have called into Mayor Bill de Blasio’s weekly radio show to demand action on integrating schools
Parents Organize Online to Pressure Schools and Get Rid of Bad Teachers | Teacher in a strange land

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Parents Organize Online to Pressure Schools and Get Rid of Bad Teachers So there it was, right out in the Twitter open: Public school parents et al: What if we could use a site like Blind to chat anonymously with other parents at our kids’ school, share concerns and complaints, including about bad teachers, and organize to pressure administrators to do something about it? @MichaelPetrilli Approp
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter News - State and National

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Charter News - State and National Charter schools in this country reached something of a milestone this year - it's been 25 years since the first one started in Minnesota. But there is increasing evidence they are either sliding downward and/or stalling out. From the NY Times: KIPP’s internal reckoning has coincided with a moment in which New York’s elected officials and Democratic presidential
Diane Ravitch Joins Nick Hanauer's Podcast, Pitchfork Economics - Network For Public Education

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Diane Ravitch Joins Nick Hanauer’s Podcast, Pitchfork Economics Episode Info Like many rich Americans, Nick used to think that focusing their philanthropic efforts in the country’s education system could heal many of our biggest problems. But in The Atlantic last month, he admitted he was wrong—better schools won’t fix America unless we fix inequality first. He’s joined this week by Diane Ravitc
The Back to School Episode – Have You Heard

by Mike Simpson / 2d
The Back to School Episode In the latest episode of Have You Heard we go back to school. And not to the idealized, romantic notion of school but to the harsh reality that awaits too many students and teachers. But wait! Our special guests are all intent on doing something about it. We hear from four educators who have a keen understanding of what needs to change, both inside and outside of schoo
CURMUDGUCATION: Harry Potter and Vouchers

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Harry Potter and Vouchers The Harry Potter books were back in the news for the six zillionth instance of a ban placed on the Rowling classic novels. The books have been repeatedly banned since they were published , usually because conservative religious folks think the books will normalize wizards and warlocks and witchcraft, but Reverend Dan Reehil, a pastor at St. Edward Catholic School, cites
Texas: Public Schools Outperform Charter Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Texas: Public Schools Outperform Charter Schools The original rationale for charter schools was that they would be innovative, would be accountable, and would have lessons to share with public schools. We now know that the only innovation associated with charter schools is the adoption of stern discipline, reminiscent of schools a century or more ago. We now know that charter lobbies fight any a
Continuing to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism Rates - Year 2019 (CA Dept of Education)

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Year 2019 - News Releases (CA Dept of Education) Continuing to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism Rates September State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Encourages Districts to Continue Efforts to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism Rates Among State’s Most Vulnerable Student Groups News Release #60—September 4, 2019 State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Funding for School Construction and Modernization Projec

SEP 04

NANCY BAILEY: Poverty & Reading: The Sad and Troubling Loss of School Libraries and Real Librarians

by Mike Simpson / 2d
Poverty & Reading: The Sad and Troubling Loss of School Libraries and Real Librarians Poverty & Reading: The Sad and Troubling Loss of School Libraries and Real Librarians My last post listed reasons why many children don’t learn to read. Poverty was behind many of the items. Poor students attend poor schools where they miss out on the arts, a whole curriculum, even qualified, well prepared teach
Gov. Newsom, legislative leaders agree on certification for all charter school teachers | EdSource

by Mike Simpson / 3d
Gov. Newsom, legislative leaders agree on certification for all charter school teachers Teachers would also need background check in form "Certificate of Clearance" by next July A s a result of an agreement reached last week between Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders, California charter school teachers will have to get the same background checks and the same credentials, certificates or p
The Walton Plot to Privatize the Public Schools of Arkansas | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 3d
The Walton Plot to Privatize the Public Schools of Arkansas The headquarters of the Walton/Walmart billionaires is in Bentonville, Arkansas, so it is not surprising that the Walton Family Foundation and the members of the family (net worth: $100 billion) have decided to privatize the public schools of Arkansas. Arkansas is a poor state. It doesn’t have an abundance of private schools that are as
#CleartheList How a viral campaign is helping U.S. teachers buy supplies and raise political pressure | CBC News

by Mike Simpson / 3d
How a viral campaign is helping U.S. teachers buy supplies and raise political pressure | CBC News How a viral campaign is helping U.S. teachers buy supplies and raise political pressure Union hopes #CleartheList puts education funding on the 2020 election agenda Jodi Haque, a Brooklyn public high school teacher, opened her door recently and found a delivery of more than 50 books, everything she
CURMUDGUCATION: Please, No Learning Engineers

by Mike Simpson / 3d
Please, No Learning Engineers If Ben Johnson is as good as his word, right now, out in Utah, a bunch of teachers are having to put up with being called "learning engineers. " Johnson is the executive director at Treeside Charter School (K-6) in Provo, Utah. This is actually Year 2 in that job; previously, he's been a world languages department chair in Tyler, the president of his own consulting
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards: A champion for public education - Education Votes

by Mike Simpson / 3d
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards: A champion for public education By Amanda Litvinov and Amanda Menas Since his election in 2016, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has championed a pro-public education agenda w ith policies that support students, educators, and local communities. Edwards made education funding, including pay increases for teachers and school support staff, a top priority. He has pl
Schools Matter: KIPP vs. Feinberg: Battle of the Moral Sewer Dwellers

by Mike Simpson / 3d
KIPP vs. Feinberg: Battle of the Moral Sewer Dwellers For almost 25 years, Mike Feinberg broke enough rules to bull his up to the top of a morally-compromised heap of paternalistic charter hell school operators. In the early days of KIPP, Feinberg is remembered as the hothead without boundaries who threw a TV through a plate glass window at KIPP Houston--the same reckless wild man who would load
How big a mess is Pennsylvania’s charter school sector? This big. - The Washington Post

by Mike Simpson / 3d
How big a mess is Pennsylvania’s charter school sector? This big. The governor is vowing to restructure it. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has been making charter-school supporters in his state mighty unhappy. The charter sector in Pennsylvania has long been beset by fraud and a lack of transparency and accountability. In fact, in 2016, the state’s auditor general called the state charter law th
Shawgi Tell: Join Growing Resistance to Charter Schools | Dissident Voice

by Mike Simpson / 3d
Join Growing Resistance to Charter Schools | Dissident Voice Join Growing Resistance to Charter Schools It has taken some time, but finally, even though they have been pillaged for decades by privately-operated unaccountable charter schools, more public school districts across the country are fighting back with greater vigor against nonprofit and for-profit charter schools. Gone are the days of s
What Happens When Communities Create Their Own New, Whiter School Districts | HuffPost

by Mike Simpson / 3d
What Happens When Communities Create Their Own New, Whiter School Districts Around the country, a phenomenon called “school district secession” is exacerbating segregation. When Penn State University professor Erica Frankenberg graduated from high school in Alabama, there was only one school district in Mobile County. Now, over 20 years later, it is one of four districts. In the past decade, thr
Immigrant Students are Under Threat. Here are Tools to Stand Up and Fight Back. | Schott Foundation for Public Education

by Mike Simpson / 3d
Immigrant Students are Under Threat. Here are Tools to Stand Up and Fight Back. As students head back to school this fall, the Schott Foundation stands in solidarity with students, their families and immigrant communities. In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that undocumented children have a constitutional right to receive a free public K-12 education, stating that it provides
John Thompson: Candor will help OKCPS after John Marshall Middle School fights

by Mike Simpson / 3d
Candor will help OKCPS after John Marshall Middle School fights Candor will help OKCPS after John Marshall Middle School fights As the Oklahoma City Public School District deals with the high-profile student fights at John Marshall Middle School, the district should welcome an opportunity to be more candid with the public. Meanwhile, the district’s families should thank social media for bringing
Why Is Incremental Change in Schooling Typical? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by Mike Simpson / 3d
Why Is Incremental Change in Schooling Typical? The short answer is that conservatism is built into the purpose of schools and both teachers and students share that innate conservatism–at first. Tax-supported public schools have two purposes. The first is to change students, imbue them with knowledge, skills, and values that they would use to gain personal success and make America a better place
CURMUDGUCATION: What I Know About The Reading Wars

by Mike Simpson / 3d
What I Know About The Reading Wars Lord save us from the unending arguments about reading instruction. I started a Twitter thread just after Christmas and that thing was still flopping around six months later. Emily Hanford has somehow milked one not-very-new observation ("Use phonics") into a series of widely shared articles, which in turn has stirred up all the articles that people wrote the l
Who should be writing about education and isn’t? - The Washington Post

by Mike Simpson / 3d
Who should be writing about education and isn’t? Mike Rose is a highly respected education scholar at the University of California at Los Angeles who has researched and written about literacy, cognition, language and the struggles of America’s working class. He has taught over several decades — from kindergarten and elementary writing to adult literacy — and has made some important contributions

SEP 03

Lubienski and Malin: School Vouchers Actually Harm Children | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 4d
Lubienski and Malin: School Vouchers Actually Harm Children Researchers Christopher Lubienski and Joel Malin note that a growing number of states have adopted voucher plans on the assumption that vouchers will “help poor kids escape failing public schools,” but the reality is that a substantial body of evidence finds that vouchers actually harm student academic performance. After two decades of
US teacher strikes generated victories. So why are they ready to strike again? | Education | The Guardian

by Mike Simpson / 4d
US teacher strikes generated victories. So why are they ready to strike again? Many say authorities have reneged on agreements and schools are still facing low pay, poor working conditions and shortages The new school year has just begun and teachers across the US are preparing to continue the wave of strikes that made 2018 one of the biggest years for workers’ protest in a generation. From Neva
What Happens to Special Education Students as Adults? | Psychology Today

by Mike Simpson / 4d
What Happens to Special Education Students as Adults? Each year, more than 6 million schoolchildren—roughly 13 percent of all public school students—receive special education services in the U.S. under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ( IDEA ). Since the inception of the program in 1975, researchers have debated how to assess its effectiveness, and the program itself has evolved o
Watered Down Charter School Reform Bill Falls Short - LA Progressive

by Mike Simpson / 4d
Watered Down Charter School Reform Bill Falls Short lush with funding supplied by billionaires , the charter school industry has bought itself a lot of influence in the halls of the state capital building in Sacramento. This caused a significant obstacle as state legislators attempted to pass the first meaningful updates to a 25-year-old charter school law. Using millions of dollars in campaign
2020 Conference - Network For Public Education

by Mike Simpson / 4d
2020 Conference Register Now DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia – Center City 237 S Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19107-5686 A BLOCK OF ROOMS HAVE BEEN RESERVED AT A DISCOUNTED PRICE FOR THE CONFERENCE HOTEL Book Your Room 2020 Conference - Network For Public Education
Why cursive handwriting needs to make a school comeback – Raw Story

by Mike Simpson / 4d
Why cursive handwriting needs to make a school comeback Teaching connected-style handwriting, otherwise known as cursive handwriting, has fallen out of fashion on many school curricula . Older generations have sometimes been shocked that some younger people today can’t sign their names on official documents or even read a handwritten note . Canadian provinces have seen a decline in teaching and
The crisis of anti-Black racism in schools persists across generations – Raw Story

by Mike Simpson / 4d
The crisis of anti-Black racism in schools persists across generations Recent reports of the schooling experiences of Black students in elementary, middle and high school in Toronto tell a story of negligence and disregard. This disregard includes a lack of access to appropriate reading materials and supportive relationships with teachers and administrators. In conversations about their school l
Michael Kohlhaas Reveals That Lawyer at Green Dot Released Emails to Him, Then Quit or Was Fired | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 4d
Michael Kohlhaas Reveals That Lawyer at Green Dot Released Emails to Him, Then Quit or Was Fired Michael Kohlhaas has been drip-drip-dripping emails between and among the charter industry’s bigwigs in Los Angeles. He reveals in this post that he filed a public records request for the emails and his request was granted by the in-house counsel for Green Dot charter chain, Keith Yanov. Lo and behol
New California charter school rules may worsen the education war - Los Angeles Times

by Mike Simpson / 4d
Charter school compromise could intensify L.A.'s school board battles A major agreement aimed at setting stronger standards for charter schools stands to intensify power struggles for seats on the Board of Education in Los Angeles, setting the stage for more contentious and costly election battles between charter advocates and allies of the teachers union, a cross section of education leaders an
Behind the Enemy Lines at the ALEC Annual Meeting in Austin | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 4d
Behind the Enemy Lines at the ALEC Annual Meeting in Austin This is a fascinating article by Mary Tuma, published by the Austin Chronicle about the annual meeting of ALEC in Austin, the liberal city in the heart of red red Texas. ALEC–the American Legislative Exchange Council–is a hotbed of rightwing politics, funded by the Koch brothers, Betsy DeVos, major corporations, and other malefactors of
Is the Opposition to Phasing Out Gifted Classes Based on Research or Implied Bias? | Ed In The Apple

by Mike Simpson / 4d
Is the Opposition to Phasing Out Gifted Classes Based on Research or Implied Bias? You wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, a nightmare and you realize; only a few weeks before school opens. No matter how long you’ve been teaching as the first day approaches you get nervous; everything has to be perfect, you increasingly think about new lessons, you worry: How will I involve the parents
NOLA 2018-19 AP Scores: Two High Schools Carry the Entire District. | deutsch29

by Mike Simpson / 4d
NOLA 2018-19 AP Scores: Two High Schools Carry the Entire District. New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) is a corporate-ed-reform nonprofit started in 2006 by Teach for America (TFA) alum, Sarah Usdin , to promote school choice in post-Katrina New Orleans. In 2017, NSNO former Recovery School District (RSD) superintendent Patrick Dobard became NSNO CEO . NSNO also runs PR for promoting the success
CURMUDGUCATION: Life Sized Teaching

by Mike Simpson / 4d
Life Sized Teaching Like many teachers, I mostly hate movies and tv shows about teaching. There are too many about hero teachers, larger than life pedagogues who singlehandedly change the world and dramatically shift the course of entire lives (though they generally only teach one prep a day-- seriously, did Mr. Kotter or Mr. Feeney ever teach any other students?) It's enough to make ordinary mo

SEP 02

A LABOR DAY SALUTE TO THE #REDFORED HEROES SOLIDARITY ACROSS AMERICA- #AFTunion #NEA #UNION #LABORDAY #CTA #UFT

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Big Education Ape A SALUTE TO THE #REDFORED HEROES SOLIDARITY ACROSS AMERICA
Labor Day 2019 Quotes, History, Sayings and Solidarity Happy Labor Day! Monday, September 2 Big Education Ape

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Big Education Ape Labor Day 2019 Quotes, History, Sayings and Solidarity Happy Labor Day! Monday, September 2 LABOR DAY: WHAT IT MEANS Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity,
Michael Kohlhaas Reveals More Secret L.A. Charter Emails: How a Grant of $325,000 from the Waltons Evaporated | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Michael Kohlhaas Reveals More Secret L.A. Charter Emails: How a Grant of $325,000 from the Waltons Evaporated Michael Kohlhaas is combing through the treasure trove of leaked emails about the inner world of the Los Angeles charter industry. He recently posted about the short and strange debut of Ganas Academy. It got a grant of $325,000 from the Walton Family Foundation. The founder proceeded to
What are 2020 candidates saying about labor unions? - Education Votes

by Mike Simpson / 5d
What are 2020 candidates saying about labor unions? By Amanda Menas Even on Labor Day, the National Education Association is focused on preparing its members for the major role they will play in the 2020 election. NEA’s 3 million members are directly impacted by state and federal labor laws that affect their rights to advocate for their profession and their students. Some candidates offer specif
The Past and Future of Labor Unions: An Interview with Stephen Greenhouse | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 5d
The Past and Future of Labor Unions: An Interview with Stephen Greenhouse Stephen Greenhouse was the labor reporter for the New York Times for 19 years. In this interview with the California-based Capital & Main, Greenhouse reviews the history of the labor movement, the role it played in building a middle class, and its decline. He goes on to describe strong portents of a revival of power for wo
'The Knowledge Gap' | NewBlackMan (in Exile)

by Mike Simpson / 5d
The Knowledge Gap 'Education journalist Natalie Wexler joins All Of It to discuss her book, The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System--and How to Fix I t.' Posted 19 hours ago by Mark Anthony Neal
Controversial Black Lives Matter film hailed at Venice – Raw Story

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Controversial Black Lives Matter film hailed at Venice Controversial US director Nate Parker said on Monday that he hopes his powerful new film about police violence against black men will help save lives. “American Skin” received an eight-minute standing ovation after it premiered at the Venice film festival, with Spike Lee — who travelled to Italy to support Parker — comparing its impact to “s
Re-reading Faulkner in Trumplandia: “[H]is ferocious conviction in the rightness of his own actions” | radical eyes for equity

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Re-reading Faulkner in Trumplandia: “[H]is ferocious conviction in the rightness of his own actions” Season 2 of Mindhunter focuses on the Atlanta child murders ; in one scene investigators interrogate a local KKK member. June Carryl , Crystal Lee Brown , and Siovhan Christensen in Mindhunter (2017) As a lifelong white Southern male, I found the characterization of that man—what many would call
Come As You Are (Part 1) | The Jose Vilson

by Mike Simpson / 5d
COME AS YOU ARE (PART 1) I couldn’t help it. I checked my work e-mail. A list of names with offers I’ll never accept with things I’d never buy from them. A few security checks from central offices. Oh, and an automated e-mail from our teacher rating system that calculated our rating for last year. I skipped the paragraphs and went directly to the table. Effective. Effective. Effective. This is n
“Harder to Become, Easier to Be” (A path to ending teacher shortages) | The Merrow Report

by Mike Simpson / 5d
“Harder to Become, Easier to Be” (A path to ending teacher shortages) A number of states and districts are experiencing teacher shortages, with Illinois and Florida apparently at the top of the list. From my perspective, teacher shortages are a case of the chickens coming home to roost. Two reasons for the shortages: 1) Not enough new blood and 2) a higher rate of departure by veterans, and both
CURMUDGUCATION: Third Grade Reading Retention Does Not Work (Example #6,288,347)

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Third Grade Reading Retention Does Not Work (Example #6,288,347) The idea of retaining third graders who can't pass a standardized reading test has its roots in two things: 1) a bunch of research of varying degrees of trustworthiness and usefulness (see here , here , here and here for examples across the scale) and 2) dopey policy makers who don't know the difference between correlation and caus
Gifted and IDEA: Charter Schools Won’t Solve the Gifted Debate

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Gifted and IDEA: Charter Schools Won’t Solve the Gifted Debate Even though gifted is listed as a special education category, Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) never adequately addressed it. Intellectually advanced students are complex, not always easy to understand. They need and deserve school support. Much debate surrounds gifted education. But charter schools will not be a sufficient a
Ohio: State Takeover Law Targets Districts That Enroll Poor Children of Color | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Ohio: State Takeover Law Targets Districts That Enroll Poor Children of Color Bill Phillis writes that Ohio’s State Takeover law punishes districts that serve children of color who are poor. The Republicans who run the state do not believe in local control, except in their own districts. Beware! They may come for your district next! School districts that the state has seized and others it plans
Seattle Schools Community Forum: 15 Apps Parents Should Look Out for on Their Kids' Phones

by Mike Simpson / 5d
15 Apps Parents Should Look Out for on Their Kids' Phones Important story via KING-5 for all parents whose children have cell phones: The recent arrests of 25 men in Florida for allegedly trying to have sex with children has prompted a sheriff there to issue another 'app warning' for parents, reports CBS Miami. During his press conference last week, the sheriff listed 15 apps as ones that parent

SEP 01

JUSTICE FOR HILDA NOW! #BringBackHilda: Video Available Of August 29, 2019 Accelerated Schools Board Meeting Michael Kohlhaas Dot Org

by Mike Simpson / 5d
Video Available Of August 29, 2019 Accelerated Schools Board Meeting — JUSTICE FOR HILDA NOW! #BringBackHilda Video Available Of August 29, 2019 Accelerated Schools Board Meeting Sign the Petition to Reinstate Hilda at TAS Only July 11, 2019, Hilda Rodriguez-Guzman, a SEIU Local 99 Member and dedicated education worker, was unjustly let go right before the new school year from her job at The Acce
CATCH UP WITH CURMUDGUCATION + ICYMI: Here's September Edition (9/1)

by Mike Simpson / 6d
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Here's September Edition (9/1) ICYMI: Here's September Edition (9/1) Here we go-- it's an actual new month after August (which always seems about 5 days long). Here are some things to read from this week. Share! A College Reading List for the Post-Truth Era From Forbes, an interesting batch of books for our times. The Struggle To Keep Teachers In Rural Schools Bonus points
Inside Bill Gates’ Hubris: Propaganda to Make America Neoliberal Again | gadflyonthewallblog

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Inside Bill Gates’ Hubris: Propaganda to Make America Neoliberal Again Once upon a time, the world was run by rich men. And all was good. But then the world was conquered by other rich men. And that is something the first group of rich men could not allow. That is the reason behind Netflix’s new film “Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.” The three-part documentary goes live on Sept. 20. Bu
Digital curriculum, an answer to equity? An Open Letter to Dr. Ibram X. Kendi – Wrench in the Gears

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Digital curriculum, an answer to equity? An Open Letter to Dr. Ibram X. Kendi I was prompted to write this after watching the closing keynote address Dr. Ibram X. Kendi gave at UnboundEd’s July 2019 Standards Institute conference . A video of his lecture, “An Argument Between Racist and Anti-Racist Ideas, can be viewed here . Dr. Kendi is a professor of history and international relations at Ame
Ed Johnson For Atlanta School Board, Part 2 | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Ed Johnson For Atlanta School Board, Part 2 Part 1: Ed Johnson for School Board in Atlanta on September 17! | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-naG via @dianeravitch Ed Johnson responds to the Atlanta Association of Educators and explains why he is running for the school board. I am posting two of his responses because I don’t think you will find any school board candidate in the natio
Singing the Internationale on Labor Day. – Fred Klonsky

by Mike Simpson / 6d
SINGING THE INTERNATIONALE ON LABOR DAY. After Eddie (Sadlowski) Fest and Labor Day Parade in Sue Sadlowski Garza’s Tenth Ward, we stopped for lunch at a neighborhood spot on the north side. I still had the the button on my shirt that I had bought from Rathke. Rathke is an old teacher union staffer I’ve known for years. A good guy for sure. Rathke was marching next to the Mother Jones float and
VIDEO: Sacramento city students are finally back in school. Here's what parents need to know for the new year | abc10.com

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Sacramento city students are finally back in school. Here's what parents need to know for the new year | abc10.com Sacramento city students are finally back in school. Here's what parents need to know for the new year Outside of the district’s budgetary issues, officials are also debating whether to start the school year sooner than its current late-August start. SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Weeks after
Is Deploying School Resource Officers ‘Over-Policing’ Urban Schools?

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Is Deploying School Resource Officers ‘Over-Policing’ Urban Schools? SROs are often mentioned when the discussion revolves around active shooters on campus, but that discussion should be about more than just shooters and should include the entire community, some experts say. The school shootings from the last few years have prompted action by school districts to do something that might curb or m
CA Charter School Assn. Wants All Schools to Become Charters or “Charter-Like.” No Thanks. | deutsch29

by Mike Simpson / 6d
CA Charter School Assn. Wants All Schools to Become Charters or “Charter-Like.” No Thanks. n June 2019, Califonia blogger Michael Kohnhaas has received a massive number of internal documents from Green Dot Charter Schools, including those connected to the California Charter Schools Association (CCSA). One such document posted by Kohlhaas, an information packet for an October 2018 CCSA executive
Mike Klonsky's Blog: Good riddance to the Charter School Commission

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Good riddance to the Charter School Commission Congratulations to all of us who worked so hard to finally get rid of the Illinois State Charter School Commission. We count our victories one by one. A new law that goes into effect next year, will abolish the Commission and hopefully limit the wild expansion of privately-operated charter schools. That's the result of Senate Bill 1226, which Gov. J
Answering Jeanne Allen’s Question About Whether “the Union” Paid for My Home | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Answering Jeanne Allen’s Question About Whether “the Union” Paid for My Home Last May 10, Jeanne Allen of the Center for Education Reform sent a tweet my way. Allen is a big advocate for every kind of school choice, except for public schools. Before she started her current gig, she worked for the far-right Heritage Foundation. For years, her organization has been a big cheerleader for charters a
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Singin' in the Acid Rain

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Singin' in the Acid Rain To start off the new school year, a very funny article that sends up both our planet's pending environmental problems with overly involved parents. From the New Yorker, Singin' in the Acid Rain. As we prepare for our end-of-term barbecue, a few of you have asked whether the event will be cancelled because Thursday’s forecast calls for increased yuckiness. No way! Didn’t
CURMUDGUCATION: Jay Greene: The Failed Premise of Reform

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Jay Greene: The Failed Premise of Reform You may not read a lot of what is written by folks on the reformster side of modern corporate reform these days, but you probably should. First, it's important to understand what they're thinking these days. Second, there's a heck of a lot of nuance out there, because what we think of as reformsterism is actually several different groups working for sever

AUG 31



Top Posts This Week 8/31/19 #REDFORED

by Mike Simpson / 6d
Big Education Ape Top Posts This Week 8/31/19 Big Education Ape: BACK TO SCHOOL: A parent’s guide to K-12 school success - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/08/back-to-school-parents-guide-to-







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John Thompson: The Corporate Makeover of Tulsa University | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: The Corporate Makeover of Tulsa University | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: The Corporate Makeover of Tulsa University




John Thompson, historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma, writes here about the philanthrocaptalist makeover of Tulsa University. A tale of our times.
Krehbiel provides plenty of space for the case made by T.U. President Gerry Clancy and the city’s philanthropists. Its supporters cite economic challenges, as well an opportunity for new revenue from courses that include cyber and health sciences. They claim that the plan is “not etched in stone,” and that it can evolve as the faculty weighs in.
Even so, Kreibiel reports, “a large number of students and alumni are furious about not only the plan itself but the manner in which it was developed … The Arts and Sciences faculty voted 89-4 not to implement True Commitment.” He also cites the participation of EAB, an education consulting firm. EAB’s role is unknown, but such secrecy is likely to be one reason why Krehbiel closed with a faculty member’s words, “I don’t think anyone is really optimistic.”
To get really pessimistic, read Jacob Howland’ articles in the Nation and City Journal magazines. He CONTINUE READING: John Thompson: The Corporate Makeover of Tulsa University | Diane Ravitch's blog

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The Need for School Psychologists at this Critical Time

The Need for School Psychologists at this Critical Time

The Need for School Psychologists at this Critical Time

Public schools provide support staff that help teachers consider the whole child. This includes the role of the school psychologist. These professionals are the experts that make a school and school system complete. They provide children and teens the mental health support they need.
Since the corporate school reform march to privatize public education, those in supportive school roles have been under attack. Budget cuts to public schools means the loss of critical support positions that make public schools comprehensive. Privatization supporters want parents to pay for these services.
Today, most public schools have shortages when it comes to counselors, librarians, nurses, and the school psychologist. In some schools, these positions are replaced by volunteers who have little training.
The ACLU found that while 14 million students have police officers in their schools, the schools lack counselors, nurses, social workers, and school psychologists.
It’s unconscionable at a time when worry surrounds school shootings, that there continues to be a shortage of school psychologists. Money is poured into school CONTINUE READING: The Need for School Psychologists at this Critical Time

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White Teachers, Here’s How You Can Successfully Partner With Black Families - Philly's 7th Ward

White Teachers, Here’s How You Can Successfully Partner With Black Families - Philly's 7th Ward

WHITE TEACHERS, HERE’S HOW YOU CAN SUCCESSFULLY PARTNER WITH BLACK FAMILIES
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The show was going really well. We were in Pittsburgh, taping a live 8 Black Hands podcast episode at the State of Black Learning Conference, and we were just wrapping up the Q&A.
Then, a White woman stood up and explained that she worked really hard and was often blamed for the shortcomings of her students and families. She finished by asking a question that I had heard many times before: “How do we make families accountable to us?!”
I JUST KEPT THINKING OF HOW MANY WAYS THIS WOMAN’S DAMAGING MINDSET MUST BE MANIFESTING ITSELF IN HER LIFE AND IN HER WORK WITH CHILDREN.
Her frustration was real. But so was mine from hearing it. The crowd was mixed—some of her colleagues appeared aghast, while others vigorously nodded affirmation. My co-host Charles Cole went in and gave her a piece of his mind. My other co-host Chris Stewart was more restrained, and reframed the question. I just kept thinking of how many ways this woman’s damaging mindset must be manifesting itself in her life and in her work with children.
Later, we would be told it wasn’t her question—she was asking for a neighbor—and another colleague acknowledged that she shared these negative mindsets about her students of color. And it’s something I’ve seen countless times in schools that serve Black and Brown kids: classrooms led by educators CONTINUE READING: White Teachers, Here’s How You Can Successfully Partner With Black Families - Philly's 7th Ward

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No time for passive parenting: Show your kids how to stand up to bullies | Salon.com

No time for passive parenting: Show your kids how to stand up to bullies | Salon.com

No time for passive parenting: Show your kids how to stand up to bullies
I work with kids across the social spectrum, and I know the harms of being passive. Here's what parents can do

I t’s September and the digital grapevine is abuzz trying to figure out who’s in which classroom this year. Parents all over the country have Google docs and white boards mapping class lists to try to figure out who is in our children’s classes—hoping they haven’t been assigned to a group, team, or classroom with “those” kids—the mean ones, the cliquey ones, the ones who dictate the terms of how the year will go. Kids know who they are, and so do parents. We all know but we don’t really stop the problem. We talk around it.

I work extensively with kids from across the social skills spectrum — kids who’ve been called bullies or bossy, kids who always seem to be victims, bystander kids who’ve learned to look the other way. I know the kids who are rude and unthinking who, after years of being miserable, have learned to go on the offense, making some other kid miserable first. The victims feel trapped and helpless. So do other kids who witness hurtful behavior and remain silent.
There are three misconceptions about social cruelty and bullying that I hear from parents all the time as a social skills coach and a mother. First, that “kids will be kids” and all kids “can be mean”—overlooking that the level of cruelty dealt out by some is markedly different and hurtful. Second, that we should wait to talk to the teachers, the school or the parent of a child who treats others this way, hoping time will resolve the problem. And finally, that parents of a child who bullies, as well as parents of children who are victims or silent bystanders, have little or no influence over their child’s behavior and there is nothing they can do. All of these things are untrue. The idea that kids will just figure it out on their own—that they need to do so—has a long, miserable and misguided history. When we believe CONTINUE READING: No time for passive parenting: Show your kids how to stand up to bullies | Salon.com



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Playing Class Clown Could Cost Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin His Job – Mother Jones

Playing Class Clown Could Cost Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin His Job – Mother Jones

Playing Class Clown Could Cost Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin His Job
Educators are organizing to teach the state’s Trump-loving governor a civics lesson in November.

Gov. Matt Bevin was praising Kentuckians as “the most hospitable people on the earth,” but you could barely make out his remarks over the chorus of boos. He was speaking in May at the Kentucky Derby’s trophy presentation, and observers would later debate whether the jeers were intended for Bevin, who polls show is the nation’s most unpopular governor, or for race officials, who had disqualified the favorite and Triple Crown contender, Maximum Security. The answer, it seemed, was a little of each.
Bevin had revved up his reelection campaign earlier that day, airing his first ad during the Derby coverage, a prime way to reach a wide swath of his state. As Churchill Downs, the site of the famous horse race, faded to commercial, viewers received one clear message: If you’re for President Donald Trump, you should back Matt Bevin. “President Trump is taking America to new heights, but it hasn’t been easy. People are afraid of change, but I’m not. Neither is the president, and together our changes are working,” Bevin said in the ad, as images of the two flashed across the screen, culminating with Bevin flashing a thumbs-up next to a smiling Trump.
For Bevin, winning a second term should be a breeze. He’s running in a state Trump won by 30 percent. Trump still gets high marks in polls there, and Republicans fully control the state government. But as Election Day nears, Bevin is flailing. In May’s Republican primary, he won just 52 percent of the vote in a race against three nominal challengers, a paltry showing for a sitting governor.
Bevin’s unpopularity appears to be less about Kentuckians rejecting his conservative agenda than voters growing tired of their governor’s unfiltered, Trumpian persona and penchant for generating headlines with ill-advised remarks. “Many Kentuckians see their governor as the personification of the state,” says Al Cross, the longtime dean of the state’s political press at the Louisville Courier-Journal and now a journalism professor at the University of CONTINUE READING: Playing Class Clown Could Cost Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin His Job – Mother Jones

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Evidence points to charter schools having lower performance

Evidence points to charter schools having lower performance

Evidence points to charter schools having lower performance
A new study released by EdSource last week points to a new threat to teacher salaries, graduation rates, and student outcomes: charter schools. With unchecked expansion, charter schools have spring up in every corner of San Diego, promising a “unique” learning experience while aggressively marketing to steal state funds from public schools.


Why is this important? At a time when California legislators are questioning the high costs of charter schools and scrambling to reform many, most, if not all, of them, some local journalists continue promoting an institution backed by some of the state’s richest and most powerful interests, which is throwing down the gauntlet against public schools and attacking teachers.
The Pioneer Poway Awards Dinner takes place each year in August at Biltmore Hotel in downtown San Diego. Every one of the six sponsors of the event ($12,000 plus) is a charter school, either run by for-profit, for-profit partnerships, which generate high-profit contracts and have bankrupted virtually every one of their allies, or owned by people like Tim Leiweke, who supports charter schools that keep salaries in line with those of rich nonunion CEOs. He’s even donated $25,000 to the event.
Even Senator Richard Roth of Riverside County, a charter supporter, expressed his views when he complained in The Press-Enterprise of Riverside in June that current countywide school rankings are “pathetic” and that the county district does not know how many people go to local schools.
The Pioneer Poway dinner, with its admission of a minimum of $2,500, is a major event for most charter schools. It draws such a combination of legislators and the rich and powerful that a number of private schools in the area utilize it for their own fundraisers and recruiters. The event has a huge star presence. Each of the six sponsors who support this event has strong connections with its special guests: former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and County Supervisor Ron Roberts.
In 2017, this was the budget they held the Pioneer Poway fundraiser off of, which was $750,000, and by 2018, they had added another $200,000. For how many years have they been holding the event off of countywide school funding?
Scholarships were generously given out for students pursuing academic degrees — but they accounted for less than 10% of funds raised. The other 90% of money raised went straight into the charter schools’ pockets.
What are the causes of the Pioneer Poway event? Here, a brief hint. Private charter schools and most public schools are more unequal than ever.
Fewer than 20 percent of the public schools in San Diego are charters, but the research evidence about what’s happened suggests that, even with CONTINUE READING: Evidence points to charter schools having lower performance



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Matt Bevin's actions show his disdain for public education, democracy

Matt Bevin's actions show his disdain for public education, democracy

Matt Bevin's dismantling of education committees shows his disdain for democracy

Recently, Gov. Matt Bevin issued an executive order that disbanded and reconstituted seven education committees. I have served for several years on one of those, the Committee for Mathematics Achievement. The committee was what its name would indicate: a group ofshareholders working to advise policymakers and develop plans to improve mathematics achievement in Kentucky.
Bevin’s dissolution and reconstitution of this committee is a setback to the worthwhile work it was doing to help students in Kentucky. His executive order is not just reckless executive decision making. More significantly, it is further evidence of his disdain for democracy and one of its most vital institutions: public education. More than a simple abuse of power, Bevin’s actions are a multi-layered dismantling of and disregard for the democratic values and processes that are the foundation of our government and society.

First, unlike many state committees, the Committee for Mathematics Achievement was established through the legislative process. In other words, Kentuckians democratically elected representatives who then democratically voted this committee into law (KRS 158.842). Bevin’s executive order subverts both the voice of the people who elected those representatives and the voice of the representatives themselves.   




Opinion: Bevin's shameful treatment of Hampton should disqualify him from reelection
CONTINUE READING: Matt Bevin's actions show his disdain for public education, democracy

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Betsy DeVos: The Musical! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Betsy DeVos: The Musical! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Betsy DeVos: The Musical!

Quinn Strassel, a drama teacher at Ann Arbor Community High School has written a music about Betsy DeVos, the arch-for of America’s public schools. The Michigan media took note.
Strassel recruited Diane Hill, his former Ypsilanti High School drama teacher, to take on the role of Betsy DeVos, while he played husband Dick DeVos and brother Erik Prince.
The cast also included some of Strassel’s former students and fellow school teachers and staff.
As the fictitious storyline in the play goes, DeVos makes an appearance at a Grand Rapids charter school, “Future Business Leaders of Tomorrow Academy,” and enlists the help of six students of color in putting on a musical. She promises to personally give them $200,000 to renovate the school theater if they do a good job.
As the musical progresses, things go wrong and DeVos upsets and frightens the children. Guns enter the picture, one student is worried a family member may be deported, and another student has his brains scrambled by “Neurocleanse,” a mockery of the real-life Neurocore, a DeVos-backed, brain-performance company.


Another student complains about his family falling victim CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos: The Musical! | Diane Ravitch's blog

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Are Charter Schools Public Schools? | Dissident Voice

Are Charter Schools Public Schools? | Dissident Voice

Are Charter Schools Public Schools?

Charter school advocates have always desperately sought to convince themselves and the public that privately-run nonprofit and for-profit charter schools that operate like businesses are actually public and similar in many ways to public schools.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Charter schools are not public schools.
In reality, privately-operated nonprofit and for-profit charter schools differ in many profound ways from public schools that have been educating 90 percent of America’s youth for more than a century.
Below is an abbreviated list of the many ways in which privately-operated nonprofit and for-profit charter schools differ significantly from public schools.
  1. Charter schools are exempt from dozens, even hundreds, of state and local laws, rules, regulations, policies, and agreements that apply to all public schools.
  2. At least 90% of charter schools have no teacher unions—the opposite of public schools.
  3. Some charter school owners-operators openly and publicly insist that charter schools are private entities.
  1. Unlike public schools, charter schools are not governed by a publicly elected school board, but by a self-selecting, corporate-style board of CONTINUE READING: Are Charter Schools Public Schools? | Dissident Voice

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Bill Gates REFUSES to reveal why he flew on Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein after prison release | Daily Mail Online

Bill Gates REFUSES to reveal why he flew on Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein after prison release | Daily Mail Online

Bill Gates REFUSES to reveal why he flew on Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein four years AFTER his release from prison while the billionaire was still chairman of Microsoft

  • Bill Gates and his spokespeople refuse to explain why he flew from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach on March 1, 2013 with Jeffrey Epstein 
  • Epstein told people in the past that he was a financial adviser to Gates, who was still the chairman of Microsoft at the time
  • A rep for Gates' humanitarian foundation denied that Epstein ever worked for billionaire founder of Microsoft, but would not comment on the 2013 flight
  • Gates' spokesperson also stated that there were no financial or charitable ties between the two men 
  • Epstein had just been released from prison four years prior after pleading guilty to two counts of soliciting a minor under the age of 18 for sex 
Bill Gates is hoping to ride out the storm, one week after it was revealed he had hitched a ride on Jeffrey Epstein's plane.
The billionaire was the chairman of Microsoft at the time he traveled with Epstein on the Lolita Express in 2013, four years after the pedophile served time for soliciting a minor under the age of 18 for sex. 
Flight records reveal that Gates flew with Epstein from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach on March 1, 2013, one of the few flights that year where pilot Larry Viskoski recorded the name of a passenger.
A representative for Gates has not responded to requests for comment, beyond claiming that the once-richest man in the world never had any financial or charitable ties to Epstein.
The pairing is an odd one given the work Melinda Gates and the couple's foundation does for young women around the world.
And it is known that the two had spent time together previously, most notably at the annual Edge Dinner, which each year welcomes billionaires from around the world to come together and discuss advancements they are working in on the worlds of math, science and technology. 
Scroll down for video  CONTINUE READING: Bill Gates REFUSES to reveal why he flew on Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein after prison release | Daily Mail Online

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Seating Charts and the Grammar of Schooling | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Seating Charts and the Grammar of Schooling | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Seating Charts and the Grammar of Schooling

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In EdSurge, Kevin Behan, a product manager at GoGuardian (a for-profit software company creating programs for classroom management and other educational tasks)  wrote an opinion piece (August 17, 2019) about the importance of seating charts. He (or EdSurge) titled the op-ed: “Create a Culture, Not a Classtoom: Why Seating Charts Matter.”
After all it is the beginning of another school year and one of the early tasks every teacher in the age-graded school is to determine where students will sit. Those decisions have to do with a mix of questions circulating in a teacher’s head: Where do I seat kids who I think need close supervision? Should I separate close friends? Or should I let students choose where to sit in the spirit of giving students agency?
The fact remains that it is the teacher who decides. Just as the teacher determined the arrangement of furniture in the room from rows of desks to horseshoe half-circles with tables facing one another across an empty space in the center–I could go on since there are many variations of these desk patterns but I won’t.  Arranging furniture and seating students are important early decisions in establishing the teacher’s authority and ground rules for appropriate student behavior.
Thus, the classroom seating chart is one of the plethora of rules that govern the grammar of schooling embedded within the age-graded school. This larger framework of  seeing teaching in public schools as part of a complex system of norms for both teachers and students does not appear in this op-ed.
Using the seating chart to fashion a classroom culture is surely useful advice. Yet not seeing how the age-graded school as an organization imposes boundaries and rules within which both teachers and students work misses the teacher’s limited autonomy–after all, no teacher is allowed to pick the students she has in her fourth grade classroom–that teachers do have. Teachers have constrained discretion in deciding how desks are arranged and CONTINUE READING: Seating Charts and the Grammar of Schooling | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

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Seattle Schools Community Forum: Sad News (and Please Talk to Your Children)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Sad News (and Please Talk to Your Children)

Sad News (and Please Talk to Your Children)


 I have learned that an Ingraham student died before school started from an accidental overdose Apparently the student thought he had bought one drug but it also may have been laced with fentanyl.  Principal Floe is sending out a letter to the school community.

As well, there have been a spate of young people with breathing problems from the use of street Jule product who are streaming into hospitals across the country. From PBS:

Americans should not smoke e-cigarettes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Friday, as they investigate how hundreds of people became sick, and at least three people died, after using them.
From CNBC:

They look like the e-cigarette Juul. They taste sort of like Juul. But they’re not Juul.

The market-leading e-cigarette company stopped selling fruity flavors of nicotine pods in retail stores last fall amid pressure from the Food and Drug Administration to stem what it declared an “epidemic” of teen vaping. Yet mango, fruit and creme pods continue to line store shelves — presumably many of them fake.

Juul users have been deluged with a variety of alternatives since then. Some companies have rushed in to make “compatible” pods CONTINUE READING: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Sad News (and Please Talk to Your Children)

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Expanding Student Opportunities, Improving Adult Background Checks – Education Town Hall Forum

Expanding Student Opportunities, Improving Adult Background Checks – Education Town Hall Forum

EXPANDING STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES, IMPROVING ADULT BACKGROUND CHECKS

Our Education Town Hall show for Thursday September 12 will consist of two parts, both of which will feature activists in DC education: Danica Petroshius, of Ward 6 Public School Parent Organization, and Maurice Cook, of Serve Your City DC.
Listen at 11 a.m. EASTERN on Thursday, September 12, via TuneIn or by visiting We Act Radio and clicking on arrow at upper left (NOTE: Not all “listen” buttons are working at present).
11-11:30: DCPS parent and Ward 6 Public School Parent Organization officer Danica Petroshius will come into the studio to discuss her work in getting attention for, and a city-wide policy addressing, sexual assaults in our schools—and how her experiences as a parent have informed her work. We will discuss current parent efforts to implement timely background checks for all staff in the the light of allegations of sexual assaults by an employee of a widely used aftercare provider in DC and the revelation that nearly a third of employees at DCPS lacked background checks.
11:30-noon: Maurice Cook, founder and executive director of Serve Your City, will be in the studio to talk about his organization and his work as an activist in DC serving children. Serve Your City is a local nonprofit that works with DC kids and community members to provide enrichment and service opportunities that they would not otherwise have, including free after school tutoring, athletics, and service projects. He will be joined in studio by one of the students he works with, 10 year old Sophia Crawford.
The Education Town Hall with Thomas Byrd
broadcasts from Historic Anacostia
in Washington, DC, on We Act Radio,
Thursdays at 11:00 a.m. Eastern
New programming 2nd and 4th Thursdays, alternating with classic shows.
Listen live via TuneIn.
Shows are archived for convenient listening shortly after broadcast.
After years of weekly broadcasts, the program now focuses one show each month on local CONTINUE READING: Expanding Student Opportunities, Improving Adult Background Checks – Education Town Hall Forum
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