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Friday, March 20, 2020

CORONAVIRUS EDITION: DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG CATCH UP NOW Diane Ravitch's blog A site to discuss better education for all

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


CORONAVIRUS EDITION
DID YOU MISS DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG
CATCH UP NOW 
Diane Ravitch's blog A site to discuss better education for all




Chalkbeat: Only 10 Black Students Offered Admission to NYC’s Most Selective Public High School

by dianeravitch / 38min
Chalkbeat reports that the number of African American and Hispanic students offered admission to New York City’s elite high schools continued to be very low. Admissions offers are based on the results of one test given on one day. No other factors are taken into account. The statistics for next year’s freshman class show sharp disparities: Only 4.5% of offers went to black students and 6.6% went
Doug Little: Lessons for Canada in SLAYING GOLIATH

by dianeravitch / 1h
Doug Little sent out this review of SLAYING GOLIATH to his readership in Canada, where some provinces support religious schools as public schools. Some also have charter schools. In recent conversation with activists in Alberta, it was clear that supporters of public education are worried about following America’s descent into privatization but that the camel’s nose is already inside the Alberta
A Parent Who Is Home Schooling Thanks Teachers

26by dianeravitch / 2h
This came from a friend in Illinois: Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.
The Nation Investigates the Charity of the Gates Foundation and Asks “Who Benefits?”

37by dianeravitch / 3h
In this must-read article, Tim Schwab reports his investigative journalism into the charities favored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He asks, who benefits? He begins by discussing a three-part Netflix documentary called Inside Bill’s Brain. The film was directed by Davis Guggenheim, who also directed Waiting for “Superman, ” the anti-public school, pro-charter school documentary. Schwab

YESTERDAY

Politico: What’s Known, What’s Not Known about the Epidemic

by dianeravitch / 14h
Politico has done some great reporting about the global pandemic that’s changed our lives. I recommend you read that summary of what we know, what we don’t know. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly-coronavirus-special-edition/2020/03/19/into-the-great-unknown-488634 “We’re not close to the peak. The rate of new cases continues to rise steeply and will explode next week as new te
The Status of State Testing Right Now

25by dianeravitch / 23h
The Network for Public Education urged Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to waive all state testing for 2020. Chalkbeat reports that many states have requested waivers, and two—Colorado and Texas—have canceled testing without waiting for waivers. Recently the Council of Chief School Officers urged a cancellation of mandated state testing. To see the status of state testing, see this update. From
Stuart Egan: Teachers in North Carolina Raised All the Right Issues When They Protested Last Year

100+by dianeravitch / 1d
Stuart Egan, an NBCT high school teacher in North Carolina, reminds us of why teachers protested last year and how the elected officials responded (mostly with silence). Fortunately, the people of North Carolina have a chance to change the state’s direction by electing a genuine and experience advocate for public education as state superintendent: Jen Mangrum won the Democratic nomination and she
Erica Green Was Right When She Wrote That Schools Should Close for at Least 8 Weeks

by dianeravitch / 1d
This post is a public apology to Erica Green of the New York Times. She wrote on March 13 that the Centers for Disease Control recommended that schools should close for at least eight weeks. A trusted reader of this blog said that the CDC guidance offered several options, depending on local circumstances. I read the CDC guidance and posted a correction implying that Green had offered the worst ca
Sam Chaltain: A Parent’s Guide to Home Schooling

53by dianeravitch / 1d
Now that many thousands of schools have closed, millions of parents have suddenly become responsible for home schooling their child or children. Sam Chaltain offers some sound suggestions. He calls it “A Parent Guide to Home-Schooling During the Apocalypse.”
NEPC: There Is No “Science of Reading”

54by dianeravitch / 1d
The National Education Policy Center issued a statement today about teaching reading. The bottom line: There is no “science of reading.” It’s time for the media and political distortions to end, and for the literacy community and policymakers to fully support the literacy needs of all children. Thursday, March 19, 2020 Joint Statement Regarding “Science of Reading” Advocacy KEY TAKEAWAY: It’s tim


New Orleans: VAM Proves that Best Teachers Stay in Best Charters

by dianeravitch / 1d
The National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH), formerly known as the Education Research Alliance, released its first report after having been funded by Betsy DeVos with $10 million to study the effects 
Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all
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Teacher Tom: We're All Scrambling: Talking With Parents About These Interesting Times

Teacher Tom: We're All Scrambling: Talking With Parents About These Interesting Times

We're All Scrambling: Talking With Parents About These Interesting Times


With millions of preschoolers staying home from school, we suddenly have millions of parents scrambling to figure out how to step into the role of their children's preschool teachers. They've found themselves as accidental homeschoolers, or as I've been thinking of it in my moments of dark humor: coronavirus homeschoolers.

Contrary to what many in the business and policymaking worlds seem to think, being an early childhood educator is a skilled profession, one that we've spent years honing, practicing, and improving through ongoing professional development. Now, quite suddenly, a generation of adults find themselves in our shoes with little or no training and if my social media feed is a reliable barometer (and it probably isn't) a lot of them have already concluded that we deserve raises.

In unprecedented times, we are all finding ourselves having to scramble. As for me, I had a full schedule of speaking engagements at conferences around the country cancelled or postponed, wiping out 90 percent of my expected income for the next 2-3 months and maybe longer. I'm not sharing this to evoke pity, but rather by way of letting you know that, one of the ways I've shifted gears is to work with my friends at Fairy Dust Teaching to produce my first e-course called Partnering with Parents: Making Allies of the Parents of the Children You Teach. It's a six-part series in which I've shared what I've learned from my two decades as a teacher in a cooperative school, working day-after-day in close CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: We're All Scrambling: Talking With Parents About These Interesting Times
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No Child Behind Failed, But Kevin Carey’s New Article Doesn’t Go Deep Enough to Explain Why | janresseger

No Child Behind Failed, But Kevin Carey’s New Article Doesn’t Go Deep Enough to Explain Why | janresseger

No Child Behind Failed, But Kevin Carey’s New Article Doesn’t Go Deep Enough to Explain Why
On Wednesday, Kevin Carey published an important piece in the Washington Post—a profile really of Amy Wilkins, currently the chief lobbyist for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and formerly a lobbyist for many years at The Education Trust.  Carey, the Vice President for Education Policy at the New America Foundation, also worked for three years as a policy analyst at The Education Trust, from 2002-2005, in the years right after the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act.
In this week’s article, Carey accurately identifies The Education Trust, founded and directed for many years by Kati Haycock, as “a pro-school-reform organization.” He explains that The Education Trust’s mission grew out of the promises of the Civil Rights Movement—grounded not only in commitment to school integration, but endorsing the mission of the No Child Left Behind Act that test-based school accountability would ensure that schools better served black children, who had for generations been left behind.  The organization was a cheerleader for ending what was often described as the soft bigotry of low expectations: “National tests showed that white students were, on average, far surpassing their black and Latino peers, and that low-income students were falling behind. The Trust called this the ‘achievement gap.’… After the long, inconclusive battles for desegregated and well-funded schools, the federal government would finally ensure that the most disadvantaged students got the good schools they needed.”  The Education Trust also supported expanding school choice through the proliferation of charter schools.
It is significant that in his recent article Carey acknowledges the collapse of the two-decades-long national school accountability narrative. While Amy Wilkins hasn’t compromised her belief in test-based accountability and the creation of escapes for some children into charter schools, even Wilkins concedes a shift away from the vision she continues to endorse: “Amy Wilkins hasn’t given up on school reform.  She remains ‘struck by how politics allows the stubborn self-interest of adults to undermine again and again what’s right for poor kids and CONTINUE READING: No Child Behind Failed, But Kevin Carey’s New Article Doesn’t Go Deep Enough to Explain Why | janresseger
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CA Meals for Kids App Update - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

CA Meals for Kids App Update - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces "CA Meals for Kids" App Update to find Meals for COVID-19 School Closures


SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that the California Department of Education’s (CDE) “CA Meals for Kids” mobile app has been updated to help students and families find meals during COVID-19-related emergency school closures.
“Food insecurity is a daily struggle for some of our students and their families and that struggle is even more difficult and complicated during the current COVID-19 emergency we’re all facing,” said Thurmond. “I’d like to thank the Nutrition Services Division, the Technology Services Division, and all CDE staff who worked on updating the app—and the hard-working school nutrition staff around the state who have heroically continued working, and who are continuing to serve our students during this unprecedented emergency situation.”
On March 10, 2020, the CDE received a special waiver from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that enabled a site that had previously been approved to operate the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) or Seamless Summer Option (SSO) to provide meals to students during a coronavirus-related closure.
As of today, the CDE has processed requests for more than 3,100 emergency feeding sites throughout the state. As school districts continue to update the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System, these sites will be populated into the “Meals for Kids” app. For the most up-to-date information, families should still contact their local school or district for free- or reduced-price meal availability in their area.
The “CA Meals for Kids” app was originally released in 2018 to help users to find the locations of California’s Summer and Afterschool Meal Programs, which are spread throughout the state. These programs provide no-cost meals to children aged eighteen and under. The app is available for free download through Apple’s App Store External link opens in new window or tab., Google’s Play StoreExternal link opens in new window or tab., and Microsoft’s App StoreExternal link opens in new window or tab. web pages.
More information about the app is available on CDE’s CA Meals for Kids Mobile Application support web page.
More information and resources regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) and California's response is available at the CDE’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) web page.
# # # #
Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
CA Meals for Kids App Update - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

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Rick Smith Interview with Thomas Ultican | tultican

Rick Smith Interview with Thomas Ultican | tultican

Rick Smith Interview with Thomas Ultican


By Thomas Ultican 3/20/2020
Rick Smith is a radio talk show host from Pennsylvania. He moderates the Rick Smith Show. On Wednesday (3/18/2020) Rick had me on his two hour show for a 15 minute segment. The central point of our discussion revolved around cyber education which students throughout America are being forced into because of the current pandemic.

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Parents-Turned-Homeschoolers Agree: Teachers Are Amazing!

Parents-Turned-Homeschoolers Agree: Teachers Are Amazing!

Parents-Turned-Homeschoolers Agree: Teachers Are Amazing!


As parents everywhere in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak are trying to keep instruction going at home with their children, they’re realizing something: Teaching is very hard work! Though it comes as no surprise to educators, it feels good to be acknowledged by so many, even in these dire circumstances.
It’s been a stressful time for everyone, so we thought we could lighten the mood a bit with a round-up of shout outs from the twittersphere that say it all — teachers are amazing, they work extremely hard, and they deserve much higher pay. CONTINUE READING: Parents-Turned-Homeschoolers Agree: Teachers Are Amazing!
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CURMUDGUCATION: PA Scraps the Big Standardized Test

CURMUDGUCATION: PA Scraps the Big Standardized Test

PA Scraps the Big Standardized Test


Word has been shooting out over social media for the last twenty minutes. The PSSA, the Keystone exam, and even the PASA are officially not happening this year.

“Our school communities are operating within unprecedented conditions,” said Secretary of Education Pedro A. Rivera. “Schools are making extraordinary efforts to remain connected to students and families, to provide food service and to put appropriate systems in place to continue student learning. Assessments should not be the focus of school leaders right now."

And just in case that isn't clear--

“To be clear, all assessments are cancelled for this year,” Rivera said.

They'll submit paperwork to the feds. They'll presumably have to figure out what to do about the missing data for school and teacher evaluation. They'll probably dither and kick the Keystones-as-a-graduation-requirement can further down the road.

But for the moment, Pennsylvania teachers have one less damn thing to worry about. And all the other states have one more source of pressure for doing the right thing and canning the useless, pointless tests this year.


CURMUDGUCATION: PA Scraps the Big Standardized Test
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An Updated Stack Of Links On COVID-19, LAUSD And Resources For Families – Los Angeles Education Examiner

An Updated Stack Of Links On COVID-19, LAUSD And Resources For Families – Los Angeles Education Examiner

An Updated Stack Of Links On COVID-19, LAUSD And Resources For Families


Please be wary of what you read on the internet, folks. I came across so much that is so suspect. From “public health professionals” no less, too. Following below is a list of reliable sources of information.
The last section at the bottom contains some crowd-sourced parent-lists of activities and Education-y suggestions. Other’s lists haven’t been vetted for accuracy. But they’re also less risky as they are, at least, not directives. Please take your information from public health agencies directly, not from random social media postings of folks self-titled as “pediatricians” or “epidemiologists” or “healthcare professionals”. Remember, on the internet, “nobody knows you’re a dog”.
LA EdEx’s updated resource links:
Governmental response including health information, public health measures
Data banks
Employment Concerns
Resources for families
    • LAUSD notification of TV partnership: At-Home Learning, Aprendiendo En Casa
    • Schedule of PBS-SoCal/KCET/KLCS-TV
    • LAUSD Family Resource Guide, Guía de Recursos Para Los Familias
    • A very full and weighty page of LAUSD Resources, including map and list of the 60 “Grab And Go” Food Centers; free educational resources from PBS SoCal, KCET and KLCS-TV; student and parent resources for instructional continuity, including for students with disabilities; online learning resources and IT support
    • LAUSD Communications; statements on school closures, resource center staffing, news links, cool videos on handwashing (though the Wildcats seem proverbially shy of the water).
    • LAUSD Hotline for questions from families (213-443-1300) and staff (213-241-2700)
    • The Los Angeles Public Library is open online!
Practical, helpful blogs and articles with kid-centered information, instructional activities and ideas
Please post your favorite resources below for others to share!


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You are brave, you are courageous, you are amazing, you are NEA - Lily's Blackboard

You are brave, you are courageous, you are amazing, you are NEA - Lily's Blackboard

You are brave, you are courageous, you are amazing, you are NEA


Hola NEA.  Here’s my message in this surreal moment that we’re all facing.
It seems like the end of the world.  And I’m here to tell you it’s not.  You have been sending me some of the most inspiring, courageous stories about bus drivers who are delivering meals to kids at their homes, teachers who are finding ways to engage students, grateful parents who now understand what it is to teach their children.
You’re doing it. And we’re doing so much at NEA.  Even though our doors are closed, we’re working hard remotely at home.
We got a Senate bill to pass this morning. It’s to help extended paid sick leave, and paid family medical leave and unemployment insurance. Twenty thousand calls went from you when we asked just on one little email.
You’re going to be getting more information every day. Check your email. Go to nea.org/coronavirus if you have questions.  There’s so much up there.
And please don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. We are going to get through this. And we’re going to get through it together.
I want to thank you for the love that you bring to everything you do. Even when your own crisis is hitting, you care about your loved ones.  You care about your students.
Stay healthy.
!Gracias de todo corazón!
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